


Monsters

by la_muerta



Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe - Supernatural Elements, Alternate Universe - Supernatural Hunters, Angst, Crossroads Deals & Demons, Demon Blood Addiction, Demon Magnus Bane, F/F, Hate Sex, Hunter Alec Lightwood, Hunter Isabelle Lightwood, Hunter Jace Lightwood, Lightwood Siblings Feels, M/M, Mild Gore, Minor Character Death, References to Supernatural (TV), Rough Sex, Smut, Temporary Character Death, mild bloodplay
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-25
Updated: 2018-09-27
Packaged: 2019-03-23 21:50:39
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 32
Words: 93,698
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13797057
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/la_muerta/pseuds/la_muerta
Summary: The Lightwoods have been on the road hunting since their parents and youngest brother died in a mysterious house fire - a fire started by a man with yellow-green eyes, like a cat's. They stumbled upon this world of ghosts, ghouls and things that go bump in the night by accident, and so now they hunt these things, so that other people won't have to face the anguish of seeing their loved ones die. And above all, they hunt thethingthat started the fire, thethingthat tore their family apart. They've been on the road for a year now, but they've finally got a name for the monster - the Prince of Hell, Magnus Bane.What Izzy and Jace don't know, of course, ishowAlec got hold of that name.(A Supernatural-verse AU)





	1. Born Under A Bad Sign

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome to the Supernatural-verse AU that has been stewing in my brain. It is predominantly Shadowhunters characters set in the Supernatural universe, but you don't need to have watched Supernatural to understand this. There are no Winchesters or Cas in this fic, but minor Supernatural characters may make an appearance.
> 
> Fair warning, this is a little darker than my normal stuff. I'm trying to tone it down, but we shall see. That being said, no matter how dark my fics get, I don't do non-con or dub-con because I have a consent kink a mile wide. 
> 
> Alright, that's me done. *cue classic rock intro*

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _Born under a bad sign_   
>  _Been down since I began to crawl_   
>  _If it wasn't for bad luck,_   
>  _I wouldn't have no luck at all..._   
>    
>  _  
> ["Born Under A Bad Sign", Albert King](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Py37G9qsfY)  
>  _

 

 

 

The fluorescent lights in the hospital waiting room were harsh, and everything smelled like disinfectant. The last time Alec had been in a hospital had been when he was twelve, and Jace had broken his arm playing at being superman by jumping off the rooftop. Alec had come along for moral support while they put his brother's arm in a cast, and that had been the longest half an hour of his life.

They hadn't bothered with the hospital when their parents had died, because they hadn't needed a doctor to tell them their parents were dead - not when they had watched them turn into living pillars of fire, screaming and staggering around until the fire consumed everything. They hadn't bothered waiting for a coroner's verdict for Max, because the fire had burned so unnaturally hot that nothing had been left of their baby brother but a smear of ash on the nursery carpet.

Alec had seen to the funeral arrangements, then he, Jace and Izzy had checked out of town in Alec's car with almost no material possessions except a bunch of official documents, the contents of their parents' safe deposit box, and clothes and things people had donated to the three Lightwood orphans.

When the doors to the operating theatre opened, Alec's head snapped up. The surgeon's removed her mask, and Alec saw the answer in her face before she spoke.

"I'm sorry, Mr Lightwood. We've done all we could for your brother and sister."

Alec stared at the surgeon, hoping for a different meaning in her words. "What do you mean?"

The surgeon pursed her lips, clearly sympathetic. "Their injuries are very severe. You should prepare yourself for the worst."

"They - Izzy and Jace - are they going to die?" Alec asked, and hated how his voice cracked on the last word.

"You look like you need a doctor yourself, Mr Lightwood," the surgeon said gently. "Let's get you seen to, and we can talk in the morning. How's that?"

Alec shook his head. "Bruises. It's just scratches and bruises. I've got to go," Alec blurted out, then turned and ran down the hospital corridor before anybody could stop him.

 

_**-24 HOURS EARLIER-**_

 

"This way is a dead end too. Fuck," Alec cursed, slamming the door to what might have once been some sort of food storage cellar - definitely not what they were looking for. 

"Told you we should have taken the other flight of stairs," Jace said complacently.

"Yeah - the other flight of stairs, the one that was coated with ectoplasm, when we've got two civilians with us. Fantastic idea, I wonder why I wasn't on board with it," Alec said sarcastically. He hefted the sawn-off shotgun in his hands as they made their way back down the corridor, watching the shadows around them for sudden movements.

"So what do we do now?" the bespectacled guy they'd found wandering in the abandoned hospital asked nervously.

"You can shut up and stay out of the way," Alec barked.

"Sorry - he gets cranky when we're surrounded by hostile ghosts and trapped in the basement. I'm Izzy, by the way," Izzy said, extending a hand and a smile.

"I'm Simon! Nice to meet you. Um. I think. Not that it isn't nice to meet you, but this is a weird place to meet people, and..."

"Don't worry, I won't bite. Unless you want me to." Izzy winked. 

"Izzy, this isn't the time for flirting," Alec sighed.

"Speak for yourself," Jace said, sidling up to the redhead who had been with Simon. "I'm Jace - and you are?" 

"Clary," she replied, nervous of her surroundings but also wary of the three Lightwoods. "Who _are_ the three of you, anyway? You're not from around here."  

"We heard the stories about this place, and came to check it out," Jace replied easily.  

"So you're paranormal investigators?" Clary asked at the same time that Simon asked, "So you guys are like, the ghostbusters?"    

"Only if I get to be the hot blonde lesbian one," Jace said, winking at Simon. 

"Hey, this one is mine," Izzy protested.  

Jace shrugged and leered at Simon. "Let Harry Potter here pick his own poison, how about that?"

"Did you just call me Harry Potter? I think I'm in love." Simon grinned, and Jace shot a smug look at Izzy. 

"Arrange your booty calls on your own time, alright? We've got work to do," Alec said when they were back in the foyer where the two stairs had branched off in two different directions.

They had picked the one on the left the first time, hoping to find their way to the catacombs Izzy's research had mentioned. This time they went right, stepping gingerly around the puddles of black goo.

"Whatever you do, don't touch this stuff," Izzy warned Clary and Simon. "Not even with your shoes, or places where you're clothed."

"What is it?" Clary asked, wrinkling her nose.

"Ectoplasm. This is what happens when an active spirit gets very pissed-off. Or, in this case, many active spirits," Izzy replied. "Touch it, and you give the spirits an 'in'. They'll take over your body in a heartbeat."

"Wait - so you guys actually believe in this. Ghosts, spirits," Clary said.  

"Seeing is believing," Izzy said with a shrug. 

"Why else do you think we couldn't get the front doors of this place open? What did you think the cold spots were? Or did you think there was just a really strong gale blowing through a place with all its doors and windows sealed up?" Alec bit out. 

"Shit. I told you we didn't need a real haunted place for your film project," Simon told Clary. He turned to Izzy and said, "So we're going into the catacombs because...?"

"We're looking for the mortal remains of the spirits that haunt this place. Salt and burn them, and that ought to take them out," Jace replied on Izzy's behalf. 

"Great. Arson and grave desecration. Normal, wholesome activities for the whole family, then. How do you guys know this stuff?" Simon asked, adjusting his glasses nervously. 

"We didn't, at first. Blundered around with holy water and crosses at our first gig, but we were lucky that there was another hunter working the same job, and he taught us how to do it right," Jace replied. "And if we come across something new, there's always Google. You'd be amazed at what you can find online." 

"Yeah, I'm sure," Simon replied. 

They'd hit pay dirt this time. There were niches in the damp brick walls, all filled with human bones sorted neatly by type - stacks of skulls on one shelf, thigh bones on the next. Everything was covered in black goo. 

"Shit. I don't think I've seen a real human skull before this," Simon said, sounding a little faint.  

Jace had put down the bag he'd slung over his shoulder, and was handing out containers of salt and lighter fluid to Simon and Clary. "Here, help us with this, will you?" 

Between the five of them, they managed to get all the niches covered pretty quickly. But once Izzy set the first pile of bones on fire, there was an unearthly shriek and something burst through the walls, coming straight at them with a knife in its hand. And it was _fast_ \- it was only a few inches away from Clary when Alec took aim and fired a shot at it, forcing it to vanish in a burst of smoke. 

"What the hell was that?" Simon cried out. 

"What do you think?" Alec asked sarcastically as he fired another shot at the next attacking spectre.

"The salt rounds are only going to piss them off even more, they're going to keep coming back," Izzy explained, grabbing a shotgun of her own. "Stay behind us." 

Izzy and Alec fired shot after shot and the screaming spirits, and when Jace was done with the last pile of bones, he grabbed Simon and Clary and shoved them in front of him. 

"Go, go, go!" he choked through the acrid stench of burning bone. 

They ran up the stairs as quickly as they could and made a mad dash for the front doors, which now opened easily with a firm push. By the time they were a safe distance away, the fire was already spreading up from the basement, the whole building glowing like a lantern. 

"Oh my god. What did we do?" Simon gulped, horrified. 

"We'd better get out of here before the cops come. Come on," Izzy said as she nudged Simon and Clary gently, and the group trudged away until they were out of sight from the building. There was a black car - one of those ubiquitous Japanese-made cars that were were a dime a dozen on the roads nowadays - parked in plain sight in the shady corner of a relatively empty car park. Alec walked up to it and unlocked the boot to stow away the shotguns.

"You saved our lives back there, didn't you?" Clary finally said. "If it weren't for the three of you, Simon and I would have been another couple of corpses in the long list of corpses they've found in that building. I don't know how to thank you."

"I do - next time somebody tells you a place is haunted, how about you listen?" Alec grumbled.   

Izzy winked at Clary. "Well, if you really want to thank me... I'd be happy to accept."

"All up for accepting some gratitude as well," Jace agreed, smirking at Simon 

"Oh my god," Alec muttered. He rolled his eyes, got in the car, and drove off, leaving his siblings to their own devices.

 

 

At 4am, Alec was woken up by his phone vibrating on the bedside table. 

"Yeah?" he mumbled groggily.

"Which motel are you in?" Jace asked over the phone. 

Alec gave him the address and room number, and went back to sleep for a precious 20 minutes before he had to open the door for Jace. 

"Harry Potter kicked you out of his bed?" Alec asked, yawning. 

Jace shook his head, digging stuff out of his pockets and dumping them on the table. "Nah. We just went to a bar for some beers and I hustled some pool with his help. Then I walked him home to his doorstep."    

Alec raised an eyebrow at that. "Huh."

Jace shrugged. "He wasn't comfortable with doing more, when he heard we were only in town for one night. So we just hung out."

Alec nodded sympathetically, and went back to bed. 

They woke up just in time to check out, got some food and restocked their supplies, then picked Izzy up from the address she'd sent them. The redhead girl from the night before was waiting on the front porch with Izzy, and kissed Izzy deeply one last time before waving them off with a smile.   

They were back on the interstate by 2pm, and stopped at a rest stop for a late lunch and a toilet break, before continuing their journey to Tennessee, where Izzy had heard rumours of another haunting. Unfortunately, they were caught in a thunderstorm just after sundown. Alec turned off the interstate.

"What the hell?" Jace asked, jolting awake. 

"We're still four hours away, and it's raining cats and dogs. Let's just call it a day," Alec said, honestly exhausted from a full day of driving. He couldn't even see properly in front of him anymore, the rain was so heavy. 

"Let me drive then," Izzy said.

"You flunked your driving test - three times! You don't have a license!" Alec said, exasperated. 

"Why does anybody even need a license to drive this shitty hippie automatic car?" Jace said snarkily.

Alec scowled. "This car is fuel-efficient, comes with a whole suite of safety features-"  

"Yeah, yeah, I'm not buying it, so stop trying to sell it."

They were still bickering when the truck came out of nowhere and slammed into their car.

 

_**-NOW-**_

  

He had hidden the contents of the trunk of their car, conveniently packed in a luggage case for easy transport in case of emergencies, in the bushes before the ambulance and police came and the wreckage of the car and truck had been towed away. 

Alec had taken a cab to the scene of the accident, well aware of how suspicious it seemed that he had taken a cab to the middle of nowhere, but he had had no other choice. Once he was sure the cab was far away and wasn't going to turn back, he pulled the case out. He had been pretty certain that they had the necessary ingredients inside there, and he had been right. With shaking hands, Alec put one of his fake IDs, graveyard dirt, a bone from a black cat, and a sprig of yarrow in a spare tupperware box. 

He didn't have a car anymore and didn't want to risk another cab, but thankfully his GPS indicated that there was an isolated-looking crossroads not too far away. His body hurt from his own injuries from the crash, but Alec gritted his teeth and concentrated on putting one foot in front of the other until he reached his destination, shoulders hunched against the rain that was still falling. 

He didn't have anything to dig with, so he used his hands to scrape at the gravelly soil until his fingers were raw and bleeding, then he placed the box in the shallow hole and covered it up. After he'd thrown the last handful of wet soil and gravel over the box, he stood up and looked down the road in all four directions. There were trees on either side of the road, but it didn't seem like there was a house for miles around. Alec was soaked to the bone and shivering. He spun slowly one more time, but he was all alone

"Come on," Alec muttered, wondering if he had gotten the list of ingredients wrong, or if the tales about crossroad demons were just rumours and nothing more. He was just about to dig the box back up when he heard footsteps behind him. 

"Looking for me, pretty boy?"

 


	2. Crossroad Blues

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _I went to the crossroad, fell down on my knees_   
>  _I went to the crossroad, fell down on my knees_   
>  _Asked the Lord above, "Have mercy, now save poor Bob, if you please"_
> 
> _["Crossroad Blues", Robert Johnson](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GsB_cGdgPTo)  
>  _

  

 

Alec turned, and saw a man dressed all in black, much like Alec himself, except this was _fancy_ black - skin-tight leather pants, a jacket with ornamental epaulettes and a variety of dangling chains, black button-down open halfway to his navel to show off an array of necklaces. His hair was swept up in a faux mohawk, and he was definitely wearing makeup. The man was of Asian descent, almost as tall as Alec, and very broad in the shoulders. He knew the lore said that crossroad demons often possessed the bodies of people who would be attractive to the summoner, but this guy was _ridiculously_ attractive. Alec hoped the demon riding his body wouldn't break him and leave him for dead somewhere, because that would have been a damned shame. The demon sauntered closer, and Alec noticed that his eyes weren't red as the lore said a crossroad demon's should be - they were yellow-green, with slit pupils like a cat's. 

Those were the eyes that haunted Alec's nightmares. Those eyes were the last thing he'd seen before the house had started going up in flames and he'd run off to wake Izzy and Jace - the eyes set in the face of the _thing_ that had been coming out of Max's room.

"You," Alec breathed, starting to tremble - with adrenaline, or with anger. 

The demon cocked his head. "Do I know you?" 

"You killed my parents and my brother."

"I've killed a lot of people, darling. I'm going to need more information than that." 

"Their names were Robert, Maryse and Max Lightwood." 

"Ah," the demon said, expression clearing. "Of course." 

Alec didn't have any weapons on him - but he did have his fists. He threw himself at the demon, only to find himself flying through the air and slamming into the trunk of a nearby tree. There was a force pulling at his wrists and ankles then, forcing his wrists together above his head and pinning his ankles together a couple of feet off the ground. 

"Is this how you behave when you want to ask for a favour?" the demon tutted. "Assuming you still want that favour, of course."

"You burned my parents and my baby brother alive!" Alec seethed, struggling against his bonds. "What did we ever do to you?" 

"I'm a _demon_ , darling. Causing pain and misery is kind of my raison d'etre," the demon smirked. "So do you still want to make that deal for your siblings' lives, or should I just leave you here like this? You _do_ look very nice pinned down like this, I have to admit." 

_Izzy. Jace_. Alec closed his eyes and swallowed hard. "How did you know about the accident?" 

"Let's just say the Lightwoods are... persons of interest, down below."

"I should send you back there, where you belong," Alec growled.

"Oh, you should," the demon said, mockingly solicitous. "But then you'd be all alone in this world. No more Daddy, no more Mummy, no more Izzy, no more Jace, no more Max. Just poor little Alexander, alone against the big bad world. You were the one driving, weren't you?"

"Shut up!" 

"Did I hit a nerve, Alexander?"

"You don't get to call me by my name," Alec fumed. 

"We're about to get to know each other very well, darling. I think that should put us on a first-name basis at least, don't you think?" the demon smirked. "My name is Magnus Bane, by the way. But do call me Magnus."

Alec's mind was racing. If he had the name of the demon, that meant that he could probably summon him later, or find out more about him later. Even if he took the deal now, there might still be a way for him to get out of this. 

"Fine. Let's deal. My soul for Izzy and Jace's lives, and I get ten years before you collect, right?" Alec said.

"One soul in exchange for two lives? I'm not running a charity, darling," the demon - Magnus - shook his head. 

"Then five years before you collect." 

Magnus shook his head, examining his nails. "That's not how it works."

"Three years," Alec suggested, trying not to show how desperate he was, but still Magnus shook his head. "Do you want to deal or not? I'm sure there are a thousand other slimy demons who would love to get their hands on a human soul." 

"No other demon will deal with you, not if I say so," Magnus said.

"What else do you want from me?!"  

"Is that really a question you want to be asking me?" Magnus smirked.

"I'm offering you my _soul_ , I don't have anything more than that!" Alec yelled.

"Oh hush, darling, hush. I'll deal - of course I'll deal. The thought of owning your immortal soul is too good to pass up. But you only get one year."

Alec swallowed hard. One year was enough for him to find out how to break the deal, right? "Fine. Done." 

Magnus snapped his fingers, and Alec fell forward onto his hands and knees when he was suddenly released from his bonds. 

"Oh, I can't wait to own you," Magnus purred, eyeing him hungrily. "You're too pretty to be stretched out on a rack having your skin flayed off. Maybe I'll fit a collar around your neck and break you in other ways."

Alec ignored him pointedly. "So are we done? That's it?"

"Oh, we're hardly _done_ , Alexander. We've only just begun. You still owe me a kiss."

"A what?"

"A kiss. Deals with a crossroad demon are always sealed with a kiss," Magnus explained smugly, and crooked a finger to beckon Alec towards him. 

Alec stared at the demon, eyes wide. He could count on one hand the number of people he'd kissed, and now he was going to have to add a demon to that pathetically short list? He shook himself mentally - he was being ridiculous. He had just agreed to sell his soul to the demon that had torn his family apart; what was a kiss? Besides, this totally didn't count as a proper kiss.

He marched up to the demon, seized him by the lapels of his jacket, and kissed him.

 

 

Alec didn't know how he ended up with Magnus pinned underneath him against a tree and his tongue halfway down his throat. Maybe he had been a bit angry when he'd gone up to kiss the demon, frustrated with how his life had turned out, and half out of his mind with grief and fear. Whatever it was, he currently had a warm, hard body rubbing up against him, a hand tangled in his hair and pulling on it just on the right side of pain-pleasure even as he claimed Magnus' mouth in a bruising kiss. Magnus was giving as good as he was getting, and bit hard on Alec's lower lip, hard enough to draw blood, and that shocked him out of the haze of lust he was in.

This mouth he was ravaging didn't belong to the demon, and neither did the body wantonly rutting up against him. He was tongue-fucking some poor schmuck who had been unfortunate enough to get possessed by a demon, forcing himself on someone trapped in his own body and unable to give consent.

Alec shoved himself away from Magnus, and was surprised to see a brief flash of something strangely vulnerable flicker across the demon's face before it was replaced by a hard look and sardonic smirk.

"I wouldn't be opposed to you sealing our deal with a bit more than a kiss," Magnus said slyly.

"Fuck you," Alec spat out, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.

"Sure, but buy me dinner first, at least. What kind of boy do you take me for?" Magnus grinned.

" _Now_ are we done? Do we have a deal?" Alec snarled.

"I see we're back to business again. Yes. You've got yourself a deal, Alexander Lightwood," Magnus agreed.

Alec turned to leave, then stopped and turned back to face Magnus. "Just one more thing - can you make it look like Izzy and Jace got better naturally?" 

"The truck pulverised the bones and major organs in your siblings' bodies. There's no coming back naturally from that," Magnus scoffed. "Unless you want me to make a bunch of other people die so that they can donate all their organs to your siblings, _and_ you want me to supervise the operations. And after all that, your siblings are still going to have to heal over many months and go through years of physiotherapy. Actually, come to think of it - what a fantastic idea, darling." 

"No!" Alec said in a panic. "No! I just- if they get better miraculously, it's going to cause a fuss at the hospital. And I don't want them to know..."

"Then I'll put all of you in a nice hotel somewhere, whole and healthy, and erase all the official records of the accident. Your siblings won't remember anything past when you turned off the interstate. How about that?"

"You can do all that?" Alec asked. That seemed like way beyond what the lore said demons were capable of. 

"Of course I can. I'm a Prince of Hell," Magnus said smugly.

_Prince of Hell._ Fuck. What had he gotten himself into? "Ok. Yes," Alec nodded

"Alright. Consider it done. See you in a year's time, Alexander," Magnus smirked, and snapped his fingers.

  

 

Alec woke up with a start in a warm, soft bed, and for a moment he wondered if he had dreamed the whole thing up. Jace was snoring in the bed next to him, sounding more like a lawn mower than a human. He took stock of himself - no bruises, no body aches, and his hands weren't scratched or bleeding. The only problem was, he didn't remember checking into this unfamiliar hotel room. Besides, they almost never went for proper hotel rooms, because of the cost. He might have invested whatever had been left of all their sizeable college funds, but even that wasn't going to last them forever if they splurged on hotel rooms every other day. 

He got out of bed quietly, and pulled on his jeans. There was a connecting door that led to the room next door, and when he tried the door it swung open easily.  

Izzy was sleeping in the room next door, and she stirred when the door opened, being a much lighter sleeper than Jace.  

"Alec? Is everything ok?" 

"Yeah. Go back to sleep, Iz," Alec said, then closed the door as quietly as he could. 

He ran a hand through his hair, then walked to the window and peeked out - he could see his Honda Accord parked in the back alley just downstairs, with nary a scratch on its gleaming black exterior. Alec frowned and made his way to the en suite bathroom, planning to splash some water on his face then maybe going out for a walk to clear his head. He turned on the lights, took one look in the mirror and saw his bruised bottom lip, and he knew. 

 

_**-THREE WEEKS LATER-** _

 

"Whoa, why are you reading about demons? That's big league stuff," Jace said, trying to read over Alec's shoulder before he slammed down the cover of his laptop.   

"Just curious," Alec said tightly.

"Hey man, are you sure you're alright? You've been acting weird since that gig at the haunted hospital in Pennsylvania," Jace frowned. 

"I'm fine. Did Izzy find us a new case?"

"No. Hodge called. He needs back-up for a big vampire nest."

Alec nodded, gears in his head racing.

Hodge Starkweather was an experienced hunter they'd bumped into a year ago when the three of them had all gotten drunk, and decided to find out if ghosts really existed. They'd all been in a bad place after the deaths of their parents and Max. The fire hadn't made sense at all - what kind of house fire could burn a 10-year-old boy into nothing? Why had their parents caught fire like that? Then there'd been the man Alec had seen coming out of Max's room, a man who had seemed to vanish into thin air. That their parents and brother might have died at the hands of a ghost was insane, but neither of them had been able to believe that Alec had been hallucinating either. 

Their first brush with the supernatural had almost gotten them all killed. They had been woefully ill-equipped then, but Hodge had been far more patient than they deserved, teaching them the right way to put the spirits of the dead to permanent rest. After that, he'd even hosted them in his house for a week or so teaching them the basics of getting rid of a number of common supernatural creatures - vampires, werewolves, djinns, and witches, to name a few. Most hunters, Hodge had told them, were loners. Hodge hadn't had to teach a bunch of kids cramping his style anything, but he had, out of sympathy when he'd heard what had happened to them.

It had been three weeks since Alec had made the deal to trade his soul for his siblings' lives, and despite some frantic researching, he hadn't been able to find out anything about Princes of Hell, getting out of demon contracts, or even killing demons. All he'd gotten was an exorcism ritual and a general consensus that demons should be left well alone.

But even the internet didn't contain every piece of information in the world. Alec remembered that Hodge had had shelves upon shelves of books on supernatural creatures and lore, ancient tomes that Hodge had apparently collected over the years. If anybody knew anything about crossroad demons and how to break a crossroad deal, it would be him. 

"When do we leave?" he asked Jace. 


	3. Some Kind of Monster

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _This is the flood that drains these eyes_   
>  _These are the looks that chill to the bone_   
>  _These are the fears that swing over head_   
>  _These are the weights that hold you down..._
> 
> [ _"Some Kind of Monster", Metallica_ ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Qu4Ass6abo)

 

 

"Ready?" Hodge asked. 

"As ready as I'll ever be," Jace replied slightly cockily, twirling his machete around. 

"Stop that. You'll take someone's fingers off," Alec frowned.

"Geez. Yes, Mum," Jace muttered, but stopped fidgeting with his weapon.

They'd met up with Hodge at the appointed place, a short walking distance from an abandoned shopping mall Hodge had been staking out for the past week. Armed with machetes and syringes filled with the blood of the dead - to be used with caution, because depending on the vampire's age, the effects ranged from knocking the monster out completely to only slowing it down - they approached the run-down building warily even though it was the middle of the day. 

The shopping mall was an old one, already several decades old when it had become another victim of online shopping and economic decline. The retailers had moved out, and the vagrants and bored teenaged vandals had moved in - until, of course, the vampires had taken over. According to Hodge, there were less than a dozen vamps in there, but it wasn't the number of vamps that worried Alec. There were two storeys to the building, and probably a basement level. It was easy to assume that the vamps would have gone into the basement, but he couldn't help but notice that most of the windows had been covered with large sheets of canvas, and there were only four of them tackling this huge space - a space probably full of nooks and crannies like changing rooms and closets to hide in.

Hodge may have been an experienced vamp hunter, but the three Lightwoods had only hunted vamps two or three times, and never a nest this big. He didn't want to have brought his siblings back from the dead at the cost of his own soul, only to have them killed on a botched-up, poorly-planned mission. 

"Stay behind me," he told Izzy and Jace when Hodge led them round the back to a goods loading entrance round the back and picked the lock open.  

"What the hell is wrong with you? In case you've forgotten, Jace and I are perfectly capable of taking care of ourselves," Izzy hissed, knocking his arm aside. "Why have you been behaving like we're made of glass?" 

"I'm the eldest. It's my job to take care of you two," Alec scowled. 

"Not like this! How are we ever going to get a job done if you keep hovering in front of us? First it was the suspected Shifter that you tried to investigate on your own, then the haunted hotel room that you wouldn't let us go in to," Izzy fumed. "The three of us are supposed to be a _team_." 

Before Alec could answer, Hodge cut in harshly, "Kids, this is no place for a sibling squabble. Can it and pick it up when the job is done, alright?" 

The Lightwoods nodded, chastised, and filed in after Hodge down a dark corridor. Alec frowned when Izzy pushed in front of him, but Jace put a hand on his shoulder to stop him.  

"Don't worry, I'll watch her back," Jace whispered, and went ahead as well. And fuck, Alec knew Jace meant well, but that was just making it worse. Alec ran a hand through his hair in frustration, took a deep breath of the musty air which he immediately regretted, and went after them. 

 

 

The doors in the emergency fire escape staircase had been barred shut. Since they didn't want to alert the vamps to their presence by breaking down the doors, they decided to move out into the main body of the building. There was no working electricity in the building, so the only sources of ambient light were the shafts of midday sun piercing through holes in the canvas pinned over the windows and skylights, and daylight sneaking in around the edges where the canvas had not been secured properly. The walls and window displays were covered with graffiti, there were missing panels in the false ceilings, and all the glass in the safety railings on the second floor had been stolen. Even the wall-to-wall carpeting in some stores had been stripped off. The shrubs in planters on the ground floor were long dead from the lack of care, scattering shrivelled leaves everywhere. There had been an empty square in the middle of the mall once, maybe set aside for performances or bazaars, but someone (or something) had scoured the mall for what seemed like all the furniture that had been left behind and wasn't nailed down - broken chairs, rusty metal shelves, scratched-up tables, even a mouldy sofa or two - and dumped them all in a teetering mountain of rubbish smack in the middle of the space.

The four hunters skirted gingerly around this pile of broken things to get to a set of ruined escalators that led down to the basement. They didn't even need to go all the way down to the bottom to know they wouldn't be finding any vamps in the basement - over the years the pipes must have burst, and while some of the nauseating muck had drained off somewhere, there was still a few inches of black sludge flooding the basement, and the walls were damp and bulging in places. Even the undead had standards.

"We're going to have to split up, or we'll never cover this entire place before sunset," Hodge said in a low voice. 

"I'll go with Izzy," Jace suggested. 

"No!" Alec immediately barked out in a harsh whisper. Izzy narrowed her eyes at him.

"I'll take Izzy, and Jace can go with Alec," Hodge intervened, with a warning look at both of them. Alec relaxed marginally and nodded. 

Alec and Jace took the east wing of the mall, their footfalls whispering along the tiled floors as they did their best to avoid stepping on shards of broken glass. The black squares of nothing in the false ceiling above them made Alec nervous - he kept glancing up, expecting to see the pale face of a vampire peering down at them. It was slow going, having to duck into almost every store along the way to make sure no vamps were hiding behind the cashier counters. Even in the dim light, Alec could see the faded signboards of recognisable brands - GAP, McDonald's, Nike, Hot Topic. It was odd to think that not so long ago, this place had been teeming with ordinary people just out shopping for clothes or hanging out with friends. 

The ground floor yielded nothing, so they made their way up the slightly creaky escalator to the second floor. The stores here were more intact - less broken glass, less graffiti, and some displays still held mannequins, which had given them both an unpleasant surprise the first time they'd turned a corner and found one staring blankly at them. 

"Fucking hell," Jace said, having almost taken the mannequin's head off with his machete. "I hate these things."

The mannequin was outside the store, which meant someone had gone to the trouble to move it there, and there was a strange symbol sprayed on the glass of the window display - a circle within a circle, and a lightning bolt in the middle. Graffiti tended to be rude words or symbols, or pentagrams when teenagers thought they were being edgy and rebellious, not stuff like this. Besides, this symbol looked familiar, somehow. Alec looked up at the signboard - it was a Christian bookstore called Paradise Now. Unlike what popular culture would have people believe, crosses and other religious items didn't affect vampires at all. Did vampires have a sense of humour?  

Alec tested the handle of the store. It swung open easily, and from the doorway Alec could make out rows and rows of bookshelves in a small cramped space...

There was a hand on his shoulder.

Alec spun around and managed to stay his hand just in time, even as Jace ducked out of the way of his blade. "What the fuck, Jace?! I almost chopped your head off!"

"Sorry, wasn't thinking," Jace said distractedly, indicating the phone in his hand. "Izzy says they've found the nest. But all the vamps are already dead."

 

 

"What the hell happened here?" Alec asked, wrinkling his nose at the heavy metallic smell emanating from the pile of beheaded corpses that had been dumped inside a shoe shop called Underground Attitude.

Izzy shrugged. "We found them like this. No idea where the heads are, though."

"Over here. There's more," they heard Hodge call out, and followed the sound of his voice to what had once been the food court. 

There was another pile of beheaded corpses here, but this time the heads had been left behind. This pile was much smaller, and the bodies had been bound with a mixture of chains and ropes. 

"Are those...?"

Izzy used a finger to pry open the mouth of the nearest severed head so she could check its teeth and gums. "Human."

"Damn it," Alec sighed, running a hand through his hair. 

These must have been the humans that the vampires had kept here as prisoners, as an emergency snack for when they didn't feel like going out to hunt. While there was an off-chance that they might have been fed vampire blood at some point to keep them pliant, they were still human. They could have been _cured_. Maybe this nest had been raided by amateur hunters, who didn't yet know how to tell the difference between the vamps and the humans, or had simply assumed that everyone here was a vamp. They had only taken the heads of the vampires, though...

"Hodge, do you have any idea why they took the heads of the vamps?" Alec asked. There was no response.

"Hodge?" Izzy turned around in surprise. 

"Where did he go?" Jace frowned.

There was a loud crash of breaking glass from somewhere in the east wing. 

"Shit!" Alec took off running through the mall, his siblings hot on his heels. Was there a vamp they'd missed, a survivor who had somehow managed to sneak up on their mentor? 

They found Hodge outside that bookshop Alec had almost gone into, the window glass with the strange symbol on it broken. "Sorry kids, false alarm - got startled by this mannequin here," Hodge said, face pale and obviously struggling to keep his voice even. 

"I feel you, man," Jace replied, relaxing.

"Let's get rid of those bodies, then get the hell out of here," Hodge said.

 

  

  

"I thought we might all need something after that. Whiskey?" Hodge held out a glass to Izzy, which she accepted gratefully despite Alec's disapproving glare. 

"It's not like this is the first time I'm drinking," she frowned at him. "Don't be such a stick-in-the-mud."

"Thanks for making the trip down, even if it was a waste of your time," Hodge said.  

"Nah, it's fine," Jace said as he accepted a glass from Hodge as well.

Hodge got out one more glass for Alec, then settled down on his well-worn couch with the rest of the bottle and practically downed a third of it in one go. Hodge was only 16 years older than Alec - not old enough to be a parental figure, exactly. But he'd been hunting for a lot longer than all of them, seen some nasty things in his time. Things were bad if even Hodge was shaken up. 

They were all quite familiar with Hodge's apartment, having made it a habit to visit whenever they were in the area. It was small and dark, with one big room that served as living room, library, and dining room; a small bedroom that Hodge always insisted Izzy take; another small room, more like a storage closet, where Hodge slept when they were staying over; and a narrow toilet with a shower that Hodge shared with a small population of cockroaches. It was always in the kind of mess you got from a bachelor living alone, with the addition of many empty whiskey bottles and an impressive stash of weapons and reference books on the occult. Hunting the supernatural didn't exactly pay much - or at all. Alec didn't want to know how Hodge got the money for his whiskey, and he knew Hodge wouldn't accept any money they offered him, so he always made the effort to top up the jar of change he'd seen in one of the kitchen drawers when they visited.

"How have you kids been?" Hodge asked. 

Alec shrugged. "Ok." 

"We checked out a few supposedly haunted places over the last month and most of them were just stories, but we managed to clear out this hospital in Pennsylvania," Jace replied.

"Oh, so that was you lot. Well done," Hodge said approvingly. "Well, things have generally been quiet lately, to be honest."

"You don't seem to think that's a good thing," Alec observed.

"You've been in this hunting business long enough, you learn that things only ever get worse, never better," Hodge said wryly. "For every one of us out there risking our necks to take down the evil bastards, there's a dozen new ones being turned or being born or rising up every day. It's an endless battle, and more often than not they take us out before we can take them out." 

"Any idea why things have gone quiet?" Alec asked.  

Hodge shrugged. "Whatever it is, it's big. To tell you the truth, that's partly why I got in touch with you kids. I taught you guys about hunting, after all - and maybe it's stupid, but I kinda feel responsible for you. Hunters end up dead all the time, with nobody even knowing they're gone, and I wanted to check in on you. Make sure you were all ok."

Alec was suddenly aware of Izzy's eyes on him and downed his glass of whiskey so he could avoid having to meet her eyes. 

Hodge was silent for a while, then said, "Might not be a bad idea for you three to lay low for a while, actually."

"What? Why?" Jace said.

Hodge sighed. "Look - you're young. Alec here was going to be a lawyer, Izzy was going to be a doctor, and Jace was going to start his own autoshop. Alec's been taking care of all of you - you have actual bank accounts, official documents. You don't have to live off the grid, wandering from place to place. You could leave it all behind and go and live your lives normally, you know?"

"But you said it yourself - the number of monsters and ghosts is increasing every day, and there aren't all that many hunters. We might not be very good hunters, but we're trying to do our part. How can you expect us to go back to school and work, knowing what's lurking out there after dark?" Jace protested.

Hodge shook his head and took another swig of whiskey. "You kids don't know what you've got going for you."

"Hodge, you know we got into this for a reason. There's something out there, god knows what, that killed our parents and our brother," Jace fumed. "We aren't calling it quits until we've put an end to the evil son-of-a-bitch that did this to our family."

"You don't even know _what_ it is. I've never heard of a creature with cat-eyes - monster or spirit - and I think you'll agree that I've been around the block longer than you lot," Hodge snapped. "Besides, revenge is a hollow thing. Every hunter comes into this life because of some personal tragedy," Hodge shook his head, fist clenching against his thigh. "I told you why I became a hunter, right? But no matter how many vampires I kill, it ain't bringing my parents and sister back to me. They're gone."

"Maybe we can't bring them back. But if we kill the thing that killed them, at least it won't harm anybody else again," Izzy pointed out.

"People die, Izzy. That's the sad fact of life - supernatural causes or not," Hodge said heavily. "Mark my words, kid. Get out of hunting now, while you still can."

_Except that it's a little too late for me now, isn't it?_ Alec thought as he spun his empty glass on the scratched surface of Hodge's kitchen table. This wasn't the first time Hodge had given them this speech, of course - he'd been blunt when he'd first found them, frank about the limited lifespan awaiting anybody who took up hunting the supernatural. But Alec couldn't help but feel that Hodge seemed a lot more vehement about it this time, and wondered if this had anything to do with the strange symbol he'd seen in the vamp nest - a symbol that Alec couldn't help but notice was badly covered up by the tattoo of the Devil on Hodge's right arm.

 

 


	4. The Hunger

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _Now I know I gotta get out of here_   
>  _Keep my head down, run and run_   
>  _Still got the hunger, still got the hunger..._
> 
> ["The Hunger", Stiff Kittens](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xrh7hPu1vxM)   
> 

 

 

Alec waited until he was sure everyone in the house was asleep before he got out of his sleeping bag. He had been careful to drink only one glass of whiskey, and had let Jace take the couch so he'd sleep more soundly - not that Alec really needed to worry, because Jace slept like the dead.

He found two promising-looking books on demonology. The first one was something dating back to the 16th century, and contained the rituals required to summon a total of 69 demons belonging to Hell's noble ranks, none of them named Magnus Bane (and if a Prince of Hell wasn't demon royalty, what was?). The second book seemed to mainly contain spells - for creating illusions, seeing the future, and manipulating or controlling people. Alec was about to give up on it when the word "crossroads" caught his eye. It was a ritual for creating a mirror that could summon and bind a "spirit of the crossroads". Did that apply to crossroad demons as well? 

"Looking for something?" 

Alec startled, and turned to find Izzy standing a few feet away. 

"Yeah. Couldn't sleep. Thought I'd pick something up to read," Alec said.

"When was the last time you actually had a good night's sleep, big brother?" Izzy asked in a gentler voice. 

"What are you talking about?" Alec frowned, putting the second book back on the shelf with the intention of copying out the ritual inside at a more convenient time. 

"Even Jace has noticed. Once you think we're both asleep or not looking, you're on your laptop researching something you won't tell us about, and its nothing to do with the cases we take - or rather, the cases I've been suggesting, and you've been shooting down." 

"It's nothing." 

"Ok. Fine. You don't want to talk about that the fact that you're not sleeping, or that you've been even more of a mother hen than usual," Izzy said, taking a few steps towards him. "Then let's talk about why you're sulking around Hodge's library, reading-" Quick as whip, Izzy sneaked around him and plucked the book Alec had been reading off the shelf. " _A Necromancer’s Manual_?" Izzy looked up from the gilded cover of the book in horror. "Alec... what have you done?"

"No, this is totally not what it looks like," Alec protested. "I'm not trying to raise Mum and Dad and Max from the dead, ok? I know better than that." 

"Not them - _us_ ," Izzy whispered. "Jace and I."

Alec felt his insides turn into ice. Magnus had promised that Izzy and Jace wouldn't remember a thing - but then again, Magnus was a demon, and he didn't know why he'd been stupid enough to believe that Magnus would tell him the truth.

"I have no idea what you're trying to get at," Alec said, just managing to keep his voice steady. 

"That night, after we left that town. One minute we were on the interstate, then - nothing. I woke up in a bed I didn't remember getting into. And maybe I could believe that I fell asleep and you carried me up to the room, but there's no way you carried Jace. You'd have kicked his ass awake." Izzy took a deep breath. "And if that wasn't suspicious enough, when I sneaked into the hotel manager's computer, I found out that all the security cameras in the hotel lobby froze at the same time. Nothing but static. I know something happened, Alec."

Alec tried not to show his relief that she didn't actually remember anything. "You know what - that's the thing. I don't remember either," Alec insisted. "Last thing I remember is turning off the interstate, then I woke up in that hotel room too." 

"So that's what this secret research of yours has been about? You're trying to figure out what happened?" Izzy asked skeptically. 

Alec hesitated. He was getting nowhere on his own, and having to keep this horrible secret to himself was starting to feel far too much like the five years after puberty when he'd stuck himself so far back inside the closet that he had started to feel like he was going to explode from the effort of keeping it inside him. Izzy was smart, and resourceful - she would be able to help him, even if she couldn't know the whole truth.  

"I thought - maybe we saw something we weren't supposed to see," he invented wildly. "Something wiped our memories - and maybe it was the same thing that killed Mum and Dad and Max. I have a theory - I think I know what it is."

Izzy stiffened. "How? What?" 

"Hodge said it's not a ghost or a monster. But what if it's not either of those things? What if it's a demon?"

"But demons have black eyes. Or red eyes, if it's a crossroad demon," Izzy frowned. "And demons can't wipe memories." 

"There must be thousands of demons, and a lot of them seem to have a non-human form or multiple heads - ram heads, bear heads, cat heads..." Alec indicated the other book he'd been looking through. "Who's to say what they can or cannot do?"  

"Why would a demon come after our family?"

Alec shrugged. "Death, destruction, and misery? Why does a demon do anything?"

Izzy frowned. "Ok. Say I buy that. Then why were you reading a book on  _necromancy_?"

"There are other things in the book, ok? I was looking at the demonology section." That, at least, was the truth. Maybe that was how Alec would have to do this - small truths in the big lies, to make it bearable.

Izzy pursed her lips, her piercing gaze still on Alec. Alec forced himself to meet his sister's eyes squarely, and after a while she dropped her gaze and shook her head. "Ok. Show me what you've got."  

Alec laid out his paltry findings for her, and between the two of them, they managed to pick out another handful of books from Hodge's collection for further reading.

Izzy stared at the shelves, one finger tapping on her chin consideringly. "Have you ever thought of checking the Bible?"

Alec followed her line of sight, and saw a small volume with a worn reddish-brown faux-leather cover right in the corner of the topmost shelf - one of those mass-produced Gideon's Bibles found in hotel dressers. He reached out to pluck it off the shelf, but it had been wedged a little too tightly against the cheap painted shelf for too long, and the faux-leather cover had melted into it. He frowned, and gave it a hard tug, and the little book went flying out of his hand to land on Jace's face.

"What the fuck!" Jace sputtered, sitting up in alarm.

The book tumbled on to his chest, then onto the floor, falling open and spilling pages everywhere. The cover of the book had also come loose. Jace ran a hand over his face and scowled at his siblings - and the small pile of books. "Why are you two doing research in the middle of the night?"

"Well, now that you're awake, you can help us with it," Izzy smiled sweetly at him.

"Shit," Jace sighed, then bent down to pick up the small Bible, and frowned. "There's something behind the cover."

He gingerly peeled the sticky cover off the book and extracted what looked like a photograph - a faded group shot from back when people actually used film cameras and developed hardcopy pictures. He squinted at the picture. "Is it just me, or does that look a lot like Mum and Dad?"

Alec and Izzy came over to look. There were maybe half a dozen people in the shot, all in their late teens, serious and unsmiling. Hodge was in the far left, and the boy directly behind him did look a lot like a young Robert Lightwood. A few faces down, they found a stern, younger Maryse Lightwood.

"And this one," Izzy tapped the photograph. "Doesn't it look like Jace's dad?"

"You mean Stephen Herondale?" Alec asked.

"They were friends, weren't they? That's why Mum and Dad adopted Jace when he died." 

Jace frowned. "But if Hodge knew our parents, why did he never mention that? He would know that we were the children of his friends - we told him everything, the first time we met him."

The three siblings looked up in unison in the direction of the small storage room where Hodge was still sleeping - or presumably still sleeping, considering the ruckus they'd made. They had trusted Hodge, treated him as a mentor and a friend. And now it seemed that they might have been a bit too naive in doing that.

"What kind of group photo is this, anyway? It's not a school photo, is it?" Jace asked in a low voice.  

Alec frowned. The boy right in the middle of the group was wearing a short-sleeved shirt and had his arms crossed, and he could just make out a tattoo on his right arm - it looked like the edge of something circular, which made him think of the symbol in the vampire's nest, and the tattoo on Hodge's arm. _The Lightwoods are persons of interest down below_ , the demon Magnus had said. Had their parents been in some sort of... cult? 

"What if... what if this group of people were messing about with dark magic and pissed off some powerful demon, and it caught up with Mum and Dad?" Izzy gasped, seeming to come to the same conclusion. "It'd make sense - Hodge telling us to lie low..."

" _What_?" Jace asked, looking completely lost. "Why are we talking about demons now?" 

"We'll fill you in later. Better put this back before Hodge wakes up," Alec suggested. He gathered up the scattered pages of the old Bible, and Jace handed the photo to him. Just before Alec slotted the photo back behind the covers of the Bible, he spotted a series of numbers on the back of the photograph.

"Wait - those numbers," Izzy said, staring. 

They'd all seen them before, of course - on the tag of a key they'd found in their parents' safe deposit box, a key that had seemed incongruous amongst all the jewellery and saving bonds. None of them had been able to figure out what the key was for, but now it seemed that they'd better find out what it opened - and soon. 

 

 

They left Hodge's place as soon as they could the next morning, claiming that Alec's old school friend had contacted him for help on a problem that might be of the supernatural kind. They said their goodbyes knowing that they were probably going to avoid all contact with Hodge for the foreseeable future - especially since they had torn out and stolen quite a number of pages from his reference books.

"I'll go get us some food from the diner we passed on the way here," Alec said. Izzy nodded distractedly, already pulling out the stack of pilfered pages and distributing them between herself and Jace.

They were in a dinky little town - the kind that probably had one pub, one motel, one diner, one grocery-store-slash-dry-cleaners, and maybe even a bowling alley if the residents were really lucky. Alec wandered through the doors and stopped short.

He would recognise the set of those shoulders and that hair anywhere.

Alec's first reaction was panic - he still had almost a whole year left, it couldn't be time for Magnus to collect his soul yet. As he stood frozen in the doorway, he drew a few curious glances from the other diners, but Magnus didn't turn his head. 

"Are you alright, love?" an elderly wait staff asked Alec from her spot behind the cashier counter.

Alec cleared his throat. "Yeah," he nodded.

At the sound of his voice, the man turned his head to glance around. Alec held his breath, but his gaze slid past Alec with no sign of recognition. Maybe he should go - there were probably other places to get food in this town, or maybe he could convince his siblings that there was something wrong and get them to leave the town altogether. But Alec found himself walking in anyway, and placing his order, then making his way to a booth a little further inside the diner where he could watch the man out of the corner of his eye while he waited for his food. Was this the demon Magnus, or just the man that the demon had possessed? He was wearing a tailored black suit with a black shirt and black tie, and looked really overdressed for this little diner in the middle of nowhere, but maybe he was a businessman on the way somewhere and had just really wanted a chocolate milkshake. 

As Alec watched, the man picked up the maraschino cherry sitting on top of the whipped cream by its stem, tongue darting out and curling around the cherry to lick the cream off. Then he opened his lips just wide enough to suck the cherry in, and Alec saw a flash of white teeth closing around the fruit before the cherry popped into his mouth. The memory of those lips on his and that tongue sliding against his own rose suddenly, and Alec swallowed hard.

The man looked up at Alec and smiled at him, then winked. Alec realised that he had been caught staring and looked away, running a hand through his hair awkwardly. After a few minutes, a shiny pair of leather boots strolled into view. 

"Is this seat taken?"

"Um, no," Alec managed, and the man slid into the seat opposite.

Alec glanced up - the man was smiling at him, but so far this wasn't exactly suspicious behaviour. He might have just assumed Alec was checking him out, and had come over to try his luck. There was one way to find out, though.

" _Christo_ ," Alec said, disguising it in a sneeze and paying close attention to the man's eyes. The lore said that demons would show their true form and flinch when the name of God was spoken in front of them, but the man's eyes remained warm and brown.

"Bless you," the man said easily.

"Sorry. Allergies," Alec said.

"Oh dear. I'm sorry to hear that. Wouldn't happen to be allergic to me, would you?" the man teased, and Alec was almost tempted to try to flirt back - until the man's eyes flashed yellow.

" _You_ ," Alec bit out venomously.

"I'm sorry, darling. Guess I couldn't keep myself away from you for a whole year, after all," Magnus smirked.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you've noticed, each chapter now comes with a soundtrack! Click on the song title to go to a youtube link of the song, if you're interested.


	5. Master of Puppets

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _I'm pulling your strings_   
>  _Twisting your mind and smashing your fucking dreams_   
>  _Blinded by me, you can't see a thing_   
>  _Just call my name, 'cause I'll hear you scream_
> 
> [ _"Master of Puppets", Metallica_ ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnKhsTXoKCI)   
> 

 

Alec had a moment of fear for all the people currently in the diner. A powerful demon walking about amongst all the unsuspecting, innocent people - one snap of his fingers and he could probably make all of them drop dead where they stood. Or maybe he would set them all on fire, the way he had Alec's family. 

" _Regna terrae, cantate Deo, psallite Domino_ -" Alec started muttering furiously. 

"Trying to exorcise me from this?" Magnus smiled, indicating the length of his body languidly with a perfectly manicured hand. "You can save yourself the effort. I'm all-natural, darling."

"What does that even mean?" 

"I'm not possessing someone. This body is mine, so you can't cast me out of it," Magnus replied. 

Alec frowned. How did that work? A demon with a mortal body? "Is that why the name of God doesn't affect you?" 

"Oh, _please_. Parlour tricks like that might work on lesser demons, but not on me. Prince of Hell, remember?"

"Your name isn't in the list of demon nobles in the  _Pseudomonarchia Daedonum_ ," Alec said challengingly. "Are you even really a Prince of Hell?"  

"You've been trying to read up on me? I'm flattered," Magnus laughed. "Well, the  _Pseudomonarchia Daedonum_ was written a bit before my time." 

Alec scowled. None of this was making any sense. Magnus was being so fucking cryptic, and probably everything coming out of his mouth were lies anyway. His patience was fast wearing thin. "I'm sure you're not here for small talk. What do you want with me?" Alec snarled.  

"The same thing you do, apparently. Did you know, Alexander, that demons can read minds?" Magnus asked with a wicked smile. 

Alec avoided Magnus' knowing look, jaw clenched. He had a sick feeling in his gut that he knew where this was going, considering what he'd been thinking of when Magnus had been enjoying his milkshake with almost indecent rapture. 

"No reason why we can't mix business with pleasure," Magnus smiled, practically purring out the last word, and Alec shivered despite himself. "How do you want to do this? The motel down the road would probably be a bad idea, since your siblings are in there now. I could bring us to the next town - or would you prefer some place more exotic?"

Alec's mind was racing. It was clear that Magnus wanted him - so maybe there was more than one way out of his deal. The first time he'd made the deal with Magnus, he had been in too much of a panic to think straight, but there was no excuse now. He'd been in his senior year in pre-law when the fire had happened, and he'd taken a few contract law classes - it was just like negotiating any other contract. It was just sex. It wasn't even like he was completely inexperienced - if you counted a couple of drunken fumblings at college parties. Or maybe that was a bad thing, because he might have had more leverage if he had never had somebody else's hands or mouth near his dick and vice versa. Demons were probably pretty big on virginity, judging from all the mentions of virgin blood and virgin sacrifices in the lore.

"I'll sleep with you if you agree to revise the terms of our deal."

"I beg your pardon?" Magnus raised an eyebrow.

"If you relinquish your claim on my soul, you can have me," Alec said in a rush, before he could talk himself out of it. 

"Indeed? Have you _how_ , exactly?" Magnus leered at him.  

"Two hours, for you to do whatever you want to do to me, in a venue we both agree on, provided you don't..." _Don't hurt me_ , Alec wanted to say, but he supposed that was too much to hope for when negotiating a sex deal with a demon. "...there's no permanent damage," Alec finished, trying to ignore the way his heart was pounding with fear and his face was burning with shame.

Magnus threw his head back and laughed at that. "Oh, Alexander. Delightful as that proposition sounds, and amazingly gorgeous as you are, I'm afraid your body isn't worth quite as much as your soul. Besides, I'm not looking for a whore. I don't want something that isn't freely given."

Alec didn't know whether to feel relieved or disappointed that his plan hadn't worked. "What, so demons have morals now?"  

"Consent is sexy, haven't you heard?" the demon laughed, golden eyes glittering wickedly. "Besides, it's so much more delicious when you go to your own degradation willingly. I can wait..." he leaned in across the table. "...until you want me so badly you're ready to go down on your knees gasping for me to take you."

"That's never happening," Alec growled, cursing how the rest of his body seemed to disagree. 

"You just keep telling yourself that, darling," Magnus smirked, leaning back in his seat. "Luckily for you, if you want me to release my claim on your soul, let's just say that there are other ways in which you can satisfy me." 

"How?" Alec asked warily.

"Hmmm. Let's start with something easy. I want a book, and it just so happens that it's rumoured that Robert and Maryse Lightwood were the last ones to own it."

"Well, it's probably gone - you know, from when you burned our fucking house down," Alec snapped.

"Oh, your parents wouldn't have kept it in the house," Magnus smiled. "It's the original manuscript of the  _Aldaraia sive Soyga vocor_ \- colloquially known as 'the book that kills'. It is said to hold all the secrets of the universe, spoken by the angels themselves and bequeathed to Adam."

Yesterday, Alec would have scoffed at the idea of his parents having even heard of a book like that. Today, in light of the photograph they'd found at Hodge's place, he wasn't so sure. But what would a demon want with a book supposedly written by angels? 

"That's all? A book?" Alec asked suspiciously.

"I said _to start with_ ," Magnus reminded him.

"What's stopping you from asking me to do task after task, making me run around for your amusement, then collecting my soul anyway when the year is up?" Alec scowled.

"Absolutely nothing," Magnus smirked.

"Then how about ' _no_ '," Alec bit out.

Magnus sighed. "I was afraid you were going to say that."

Alec frowned. Magnus wasn't going to let him off this easily. His phone started to vibrate in his pocket, and when he pulled it out to check, he saw that it was a call from Izzy.

"Go on. Pick it up," Magnus smiled.

Dread pooling in his gut, Alec answered the call.

"Hello, big brother."

It was Izzy's voice, yet... _not_. Something nameless about the way it sounded was making his skin crawl, and it wasn't even the way Magnus' smile was growing wider.

"You're not my sister."

"No, I'm not," not-Izzy's voice agreed pleasantly over the line. "Such an exquisite little meat suit, though. Imagine the fun we could have with her, and your brother."

"Let them go," Alec growled, speaking as much to the demon over the phone as he was to Magnus sitting across him at the table, but the line went dead almost immediately.

"That's the problem with you hunters. Always so ill-equipped to deal with demons," Magnus shook his head mockingly. "With the number of us wandering around top-side, you'd think you'd have tried a little harder to find some way to keep us out, besides just memorising some latin mumbo-jumbo." 

"I'll find you your fucking book. _Let them go_ ," Alec said stonily.

"I knew you'd see it my way," Magnus said cheerfully.

One of the wait staff came over with Alec's take-out bag and set it on the table in front of Alec.

"And that's my cue to leave," Magnus said, getting up from his seat. His eyes were back to human brown again, and he winked at Alec while he did up the button of his suit jacket. "Always a pleasure to do business with you, Alexander. I'll be seeing you around."

"Wait - my siblings-" Alec started, fingers curling nervously under the table.

"Coming back to themselves as we speak," Magnus assured him, before sauntering off. 

Alec managed to wait for two whole minutes after the demon had left the diner before he was out of his seat and running towards the motel, food forgotten on the table.

 

 

Blood. Blood decorating the wall behind the reception desk in an arterial spray. Alec's breath caught in his throat when he entered the lobby of the motel. He checked behind the desk - the bored teenaged boy who had probably been doing this job as a way to get some extra spending money would never be bored again. 

Alec had been dialling his siblings' numbers non-stop since he'd left the diner, but the calls just went straight to voicemail. The motel wasn't a big one - maybe a dozen rooms if that, divided unevenly between two floors. It was the middle of the day, and this was a small town with low traffic, so it was likely that most of the rooms were vacant. Alec checked the first floor and found it mercifully empty, both of the dead and the living, then moved on to the second floor. The Lightwoods always picked a room on the higher floor whenever possible, reasoning that it gave them a vantage point and time to think of a way to get rid of any creatures that might have followed them, although they had honestly never had that problem before - until now.

They had a room somewhere in the middle of the level, and as Alec made his way there, he noticed that the doors of two of the rooms had been left ajar. The first one held a man in a cheap suit lying on the floor with his throat slit, although there didn't seem to be any signs of a struggle. The second one held a very naked couple, and this one was horribly messy - the woman had obviously tried to climb out of the window before being dragged back into the room, and the man had been eviscerated right at the door.  

The two rooms occupied by the Lightwoods were in a complete disarray, but empty of people - and blood, which was hopefully a good thing. He moved on down the row, and finally found Izzy and Jace in the room right at the end, slumped on the floor and covered in blood that wasn't their own, but otherwise unharmed, only unconscious. Unfortunately, they weren't alone - this room had another corpse, a man. And it seemed that the demons that had possessed his siblings had taken their time with this one, because it had taken a while for Alec to count the body parts before he figured that it all belonged to one person.

"Alec?" 

Alec rushed over to Izzy's side to help her sit up. Jace was also stirring, and he inhaled sharply in shock when he opened his eyes.

"Oh my god. We did this," Izzy said, sounding sick.

"You... remember?" Alec asked, horrified.

Jace nodded, face pinched. "We got jumped by some black smoke that came in through the window. Then it was like I was a prisoner in my own head, watching my hands wielding the knife..." 

"The businessman at the end of the row opened the door because he thought I was cute and the thing was using my body to flirt with him," Izzy said in a small voice, hugging herself. "His name was Frank." 

Alec was so angry his hands were starting to shake, but Izzy and Jace were counting on him to keep it together. How long before the cops came? 

"We've got to get out of here," Alec said gently but firmly. "Come on. Clean up and pack up."

Alec did his best to pack whatever he could while his siblings washed the worst of the blood off. He found their phones on the floor, smashed into chunks of twisted plastic and circuitry by pure brute strength, but other than that most of their personal belongings had been left unmolested. The pages they had stolen from Hodge, however, were nowhere to be found, not even in the trashcans. And Alec couldn't deny that that was a blow, because now they were back to square one, and they'd burned that bridge after they had crossed it - there was no going back to Hodge for help.

But that was the least of Alec's worries now. They always used fake names and paid in cash when they registered at motels, but there were other ways to leave a trail. Fingerprints, traces of DNA, witnesses who had seen the black car and had seen Alec at the diner (because this was a town so small that everyone probably knew everyone, and any stranger would have stood out, even without Alec's odd behaviour). Even if they managed to successfully burn the whole motel down in broad daylight without being caught at it, there was a good chance that the police would be able to trace all these dead bodies back to them.

All the effort Alec had put into making sure that they stayed above the law whenever possible, making sure their money was made through legal means and destroying all the evidence that might point back to them whenever they had to do something like break into private property or dig up a grave - all of it had been for nothing. Perhaps it had been stupidly optimistic to hope that one day they could leave the hunting life behind, but Magnus and his demonic minions had certainly made sure that the Lightwoods were stuck in this life - from now on, they would have to assume that they were all fugitives from the law.

They piled into the car and Alec drove away as quickly as he dared without drawing suspicion to themselves. 

Despite the climbing heat, Izzy had wrapped herself in a thick cashmere sweater, soft with age and wear, that had once been Maryse's but Izzy had always had a penchant for borrowing. "We've never had a run-in with demons before this," she said quietly. "What are the chances that we were attacked by demons the moment we started investigating them?"  

Alec swallowed hard. "It's my fault."

"What? Why?" Jace asked, puzzled, but from Izzy's pointed silence, Alec thought Izzy probably agreed. 

Why had he been so naive to think that the only cost he would have to pay for making that deal was his own soul? To think that he'd initially imagined being able to wriggle out of the deal and getting off completely scot-free. He was way over his head, and he'd dragged Jace and Izzy down with him, because he'd inadvertently shown Magnus exactly which buttons he had to press to make Alec scramble to do his bidding. 

"The demon who killed Mum, Dad and Max - he approached me, in the diner," Alec said.  

"What?!" Izzy and Jace said in shock. 

"How did he find you?" Izzy asked. "He didn't hurt you, did he?" 

Alec shook his head. "No, he didn't hurt me. And I don't know how he found me. He asked me to find a book for him, a book that was apparently last seen with Mum and Dad, and when I refused he got his minions to possess you two, to force me to agree to it." 

"And you knew it was him? Definitely him?" Izzy pressed.

"Well, he had the eyes," Alec said.

Izzy and Jace were quiet for a while. 

"I'm guessing we can't just order another copy of this book off Amazon," Jace finally said. "What happens if we can't find it?"  

Getting demons to possess his siblings was hardly the worst thing Magnus could think up, and it had just occurred to Alec that Magnus had not said how long Alec had to find this book. He kept his eyes on the road, because that gave him an excuse not to meet his siblings' eyes. 

"I honestly don't know."

 


	6. Fell On Black Days

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _Whomsoever I've cured, I've sickened now_   
>  _And whomsoever I've cradled, I've put you down_   
>  _I'm a search light soul they say_   
>  _But I can't see it in the night_
> 
>   
>  ["Fell On Black Days", Soundgarden](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ySzrJ4GRF7s)   
> 

 

 

They slept in the car for the next couple of nights, with Alec and Jace taking turns sleeping and driving. During the day, they camped out in fast food joints and cafés for the free Wi-Fi, going back on the road after a few hours (or immediately, if they spotted a police cruiser going by), and always sitting with their backs to the walls. Izzy kept an eye on the news sites and police radios to make sure nobody had put out an APB on them, but it was more than that - none of them would ever be able to sleep easy in a motel room again, and it just felt safer to keep moving. If only there was a way for Alec to get them far away enough that Izzy would lose the haunted look in her eyes, and Jace's smiles and jokes would stop being so brittle.

"Well, there are two copies of the manuscript in the Vatican City," Izzy said over a cup of overpriced coffee, frowning at the screen.  

"So we're going to hop on a plane and go rob the Pope? Piece of cake, let's get it done before lunchtime so we'll have time for our heist to steal the Mona Lisa. When do we leave?" Jace said sarcastically.

"Anyway, the demon said that what he wanted was the original, not a copy," Alec shook his head, distracted. 

While his siblings were trying to find out more about the book they were supposed to be finding for Magnus, Alec had his own research to do. Magnus had said that the _Pseudomonarchia Daedonum_ had been written before his time, and he was still in possession of his own body - a human, mortal body. And maybe being a demon meant that his body didn't age, but there were a few things that made Alec think that Magnus didn't exactly hail from the 16th century - such as the fact that Magnus' teeth were very straight, and dental braces hadn't existed before at least the 19th century. Maybe he had been going about this all wrong - instead of trying to find out about Magnus Bane by searching for information on Princes of Hell, maybe he should be looking for information on Magnus himself, when he had been alive. Maybe he had surviving descendants, _something_ \- anything that would give Alec the upper hand or at least a fighting chance at getting out of this. And most of all, Alec wanted to make him pay for what he'd done to Izzy and Jace. Unfortunately, at the moment all he'd been able to find was an online graphic novel with a main character named Magnus Bane, created and self-published by a Simon Lewis and Clary Fray. There  _was_ something familiar about those names, but other than that Alec was coming up blank.

"What's the difference between getting a copy and the original? Are we trying to get the demon an autographed first edition for Christmas?" Jace said in exasperation. 

"Look, that's what he asked for, alright? How would I know if there's a difference?" Alec snapped. "All we've managed to find out so far is that the book was written by some guy in the 1500s, went missing after his death, then two copies of it mysteriously surfaced in the British Library and Bodleian Library in 1994."

"And the two copies are not identical - so I guess it's a good bet that both copies differ from the original as well," Izzy said, chewing on her lower lip.

"But where would Mum and Dad have kept it? We emptied out the safe deposit box, and there certainly wasn't a latin spellbook in there," Jace griped.

"But we did find a key," Izzy pointed out. 

"Which would be a lot more useful if we knew what the hell it opened!" Jace said in exasperation.  

"I think we should go back to Hodge," Izzy said. She raised a hand as her siblings started to protest. "We've got nothing but dead-ends. I'm not saying we should trust Hodge. But he taught us everything we know about hunting when he didn't have to." 

"Izzy has a point. He could have just left us to kill ourselves by blundering around like idiots," Alec admitted reluctantly. 

"Yeah, probably because he felt guilty that he was part of some demon-worshipping cult!" Jace scoffed.

"A demon-worshipping cult that our parents were part of. He had the photo with the numbers. I think he holds the answers to all our questions, and we're just being stupid if we don't at least try to tap that," Izzy said reasonably.

"And the fact that he kept all this stuff from us? We're just going to forgive that?" Jace challenged. "Hell no."  

"Sometimes people keep secrets from the people they care about because they want to protect them," Alec said quietly.

"Yes, you would know all about that - wouldn't you?" Izzy murmured.

"What?" Jace looked between the two of them. 

" _Nothing_ \- as our dear big brother likes to say," Izzy said brightly.

Alec resisted the urge to run his hands through his hair in frustration - sometimes Izzy was just too sharp for her own good, and he did _not_ need this right now. "If we're going back to Hodge, now's the time to go - before he finds out that we've mutilated his books," Alec said, opting to ignore Izzy. 

Just then, Alec's phone started ringing. He looked at the caller ID and showed the screen to his siblings. "Fuck. I think we're too late. I'm guessing Hodge noticed the missing pages."

"Take the call first," Izzy urged. "We can try to explain." 

He put it on speaker mode. "Hodge, look-"

Hodge's harried voice cut in with a harshly whispered, "Four-five-four-eight-nine-three."

"What?" Alec asked in bewilderment, but Hodge had already put down the call. Izzy quickly scribbled down the series of numbers on the notepad next to her.

"What the fuck was that supposed to mean?" Jace asked.

Alec tried to call Hodge back several times, but it went straight to voicemail.

"Isn't it lucky for him that you two had already decided we were going back anyway?" Jace muttered, crumpling up his paper napkin and throwing it on the table, already getting ready to get out of his seat.

"I'm not sure we should go, now. It might be a trap," Alec frowned. 

"But if he's in trouble, we can't just sit here!" Izzy protested.

"It'll mean passing through that town with the motel, though," Alec pointed out. Izzy and Jace stiffened visibly.

"Yeah, getting arrested for multiple murders might put a crimp in our plans. Go around it," Jace said with forced nonchalance. "It's only an extra hour of driving, at the most. Come on."

 

 

It took them a full day of non-stop driving to get back to Hodge, far too late to be of much help. Hodge's apartment had been gutted and trashed. The shelves that had once held Hodge's extensive collection of books were now empty and broken in several places, and the couch had been cut open and stripped to a skeleton of wood and springs, spilling mouldy cotton filling everywhere.

"Fuck," Jace cursed, stepping gingerly over the carnage of broken glass and ripped cushions. "Demons?"

Izzy, who was checking one of the windows, shook her head. "No sulphur."

"Come again?" Jace frowned.

"It's a sign of demonic activity. It was all over everything back in... You know. The motel," Izzy said. 

"Oh. Was that why my clothes smelled like rotten eggs?" Jace asked.

"No, that's just how you normally smell," Izzy said with the ghost of a smile. 

"Hey!"

Alec ignored them. Hodge obviously wasn't in the living room, but a quick check of the bedroom, bathroom and storage room turned up nothing either, although Alec did notice that Hodge's collection of weapons had been completely cleared out. There were a couple of bullet holes in the bedroom wall, as well as a few smears of blood - it looked like Hodge had tried to put up a fight. 

Hodge had called them during the daylight hours, so that ruled out vampires and most other monsters. Besides, what would monsters want with a bunch of blessed silver knives and a small library of occult reference books? Everything pointed to the assailants being human - probably other hunters. It looked like whoever had taken out the vamp nest had caught up with Hodge. 

There was a rattling sound at the bedroom windowsill - someone had thrown a piece of gravel through the window from outside. Alec leaned out and felt a thrill run down his spine to see the well-dressed figure of someone who was becoming distressingly familiar, smiling and wriggling his fingers at him in a little wave. 

It took some convincing, but Alec managed to sneak downstairs after tasking Izzy and Jace with scouring Hodge's apartment for useful books and weapons while he supposedly checked the dumpsters for clues. Magnus was waiting patiently for him, looking entirely incongruous amongst the filth and trash in the back alley.

"When are you going to tell your siblings about us? I'm starting to feel like your dirty little secret," Magnus pouted.

"Where is Hodge?" Alec demanded. 

Magnus gave a put-upon sigh. "Talking business already. Not even a greeting kiss?" 

"I don't have time for your games," Alec snarled. "And I'd send you straight back to hell without a moment's hesitation if I knew how."

"Why so angry?" Magnus tsked.

"Are you serious? Those demons of yours used my siblings' bodies to murder innocent people!" Alec growled in a low voice, hands balled up into fists. 

"Oh, that. I've already killed those two demons," Magnus said dismissively. "They weren't supposed to make it more difficult for you to keep under the radar and find my book for me. So hard to find good staff these days, you wouldn't believe. It's a nightmare. Although, to be fair, they were demons, and we're generally not known to be good at following orders." Magnus paused, then looked expectantly at Alec. "You're welcome."

"You weren't actually expecting me to thank you for that, were you?" Alec said, crossing his arms.

"A little manners never hurt anyone. Especially when you're talking to the person who's about to own your pert little ass in about - oh, eleven months' time. How time has flown!" Magnus smiled brightly.

"What the fuck do you want?" Alec spat out. 

Magnus dropped the flirtatious demeanour. "I must admit that I am surprised to see you here, but I should have known that the children are destined to repeat the sins of their parents," Magnus said, and he sounded almost disappointed. "I know where they've taken Hodge Starkweather. I could point you in the right direction."

"Why would you help us?"

"Out of the goodness of my heart?" Magnus shrugged.

Alec had no illusions that Magnus cared about whether Hodge lived or died, so he must have had another reason to want the Lightwoods to rescue Hodge. "Who are the people who took Hodge?"

"Let's just say the Lightwoods, Starkweathers and Herondales all made some really stupid choices in friends when they were younger, and their old friends are back in town."

"What's it to do with you?"

"I'm sorry, darling - I know I gave you the impression that we have something special going on between us, but I'm hardly going to put all my eggs in the same basket. I know that the Lightwoods aren't the only ones who knew where the book is. And I've a vested interest in making sure that Starkweather's old friends don't get their hands on the book before I do."

"Then why don't  _you_  go and stop them from making Hodge talk? You mean this is beyond the abilities of the all-powerful Prince of Hell?" Alec said sarcastically. 

Magnus smiled. "I'll step in if I have to. But why risk showing my hand when I could just send some disposable humans in? Besides, you know that if I get involved, Hodge Starkweather is not going to survive."

Alec scowled at Magnus' smug expression.  

"Tick tock, Alexander. Better collect your tardy little tutor - or whatever is left of him. He's in an abandoned warehouse five miles north from here." 

Alec opened his mouth to tell Magnus to go to hell, but he was already gone. 

 

 

"How did you say you found out where Hodge was, again?" Jace asked as Alec gunned the engine down the empty road. 

"Neighbours saw some men carrying a large sack to a suspicious-looking truck," Alec said tersely. "I thought it was as good a lead as any." 

"And the neighbours happened to trail this truck instead of calling the police, did they?" Izzy scoffed. "You're such a terrible liar."

"Izzy has a point. Even _I_ know you're lying," Jace said wryly.

"You realise we were both watching you talk to the guy in the suit from the upstairs window, right?" Izzy said, shaking her head at Alec in exasperation. 

Alec sighed. "Yes, fine - it was the demon, alright?"

"This demon must be possessing a hot piece of ass - he's got you good," Jace said, with the hint of a grin. 

"Are you even listening to yourself right now?" Alec frowned. 

Jace shrugged. "Hey, when we get hold of him, we'll exorcise the demon from the hot guy and he'll be so grateful and impressed with the rescue that he'll fall into your big strong arms. Knight in shining armour saving the damsel in distress - beats any pick-up line."

Alec elected to ignore that for the bigger issue. "So both of you knew I was lying, and you're still going along with it?"

"You're our brother," Jace replied, as if that explained everything. "We'd follow you into hell and back, if that's what it takes." 

"Next time just don't lie to us about it," Izzy scolded.

Alec didn't know what to say to that, so he didn't.

It took them a few tries to find the correct warehouse in the row of abandoned buildings, but there was no guard, so they managed to sneak up to the second floor without anybody noticing, and found a hiding spot behind the stacks of empty wooden crates. They could see Hodge very clearly, a bit beaten up but still clearly alive. His wrists had been bound behind his back, and he was surrounded by a dozen people, mostly men. The leader had to be the guy who was talking to Hodge - a balding man who looked like he might be in his forties, flanked by a young blond man who was about their age.

"Come on, Hodge. There's no need for this. We are all old friends here - we just wanted to talk," the balding man said reasonably. 

Hodge stared sullenly up at him, but didn't answer.

"There was a time when we all believed in the same ideal, remember?" the man sighed. "You know I never blamed you all for leaving - Jocelyn, Maryse, Robert, Luke, Stephen, and you. But why did you have to steal the book?"

"Because what we were doing was _wrong_ ," Hodge said fiercely.

"What's wrong with wanting paradise on earth? With wanting to get rid of all the demons and monsters that prey on all the unsuspecting, innocent humans?"

"Not all of them are monsters. They can't help what they are, but some of them are trying," Hodge shook his head. "And you talk about paradise on earth - but at what cost? Anyway, I don't have the book, never did. It was Maryse and Robert who had it."

"But you know where it is, don't you? You were always close to them," the other man insisted.

"I don't. I really don't. And you can beat me up all you want, and I still won't be able to tell you." 

"What makes you think we're going to stop at beating you up? " the young blond man sneered.

"Jonathan," the balding man admonished the younger man, then turned back to Hodge. "For old times' sake, Hodge, I'll give you one last chance. We can do it the easy way, or the hard way - so which will it be?" 

That certainly sounded ominous. There were too many of them for the three of them to take out on their own, but the thought of standing by watching these people torture Hodge wasn't an option either.

"What now?" Jace whispered.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was so tempted to use the whole "If there's a key, then there has to be a lock" dialogue from _6.15 - The French Mistake_. **So tempted.**


	7. Bad Company

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _It's the way I play_   
>  _Dirty for dirty_   
>  _Oh, somebody double-crossed me_   
>  _Bad, bad company_   
>  _Till the day I die_
> 
>  
> 
> [_"Bad Company", Bad Company_ ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ww5GXbk58R0)

Izzy stood up from their hiding spot.

"What are you doing?!" Alec hissed, trying to grab her arm and pull her back down, but she ignored him.

"Hey!" Izzy called out.

Everyone downstairs turned around to look for the source of the noise, and quite a few guns were quickly pointed in their direction. Alec and Jace were on their feet at once, standing in front of Izzy. Hodge's eyes widened in surprise.

Izzy raised her hands to show that she was not armed. "Hodge doesn't have the book. None of us do."

The balding man's face suddenly smoothed out in a wide smile Alec immediately didn't trust. "Well, this is a pleasant surprise. You look so much like your parents - you must be Maryse, Robert and Stephen's children." He indicated that the rest of the people should put their weapons down, then turned to face them again. "Your parents and I were old friends. I should very much like to meet their children."

Hodge was shaking his head at them, but what choice did they have? The three Lightwoods made their way into the midst of the group of hunters warily. Almost all of them were older, probably more experienced than them at close combat. And while they weren't exactly being hostile, they certainly looked as suspicious of the Lightwoods as Alec felt of them.

"I was sorry to hear that your parents had passed," the man said. "My name is Valentine Morgenstern, and this is my son, Jonathan Morgenstern - I dare say he'll be glad to have some friends his age at last." The young blond man shot them a quick smile that didn't quite reach his eyes.

"Why did you do this to Hodge?" Alec asked bluntly.

"It's all just a misunderstanding," Valentine Morgenstern said with a smile. "We didn't part on the best terms, you see - and I just wanted to talk."

"That's not what we heard you say," Jace said, voice hard. "You were going to torture him."

Valentine raised his hands, palms up. "Empty threats, I swear. It's not like there are many of us hunters out there. It'd be a damned shame if we hurt each other fighting amongst ourselves when we should be fighting monsters and evil spirits."

"So, the book - you said that you don't have it," Jonathan Morgenstern cut in.

"Yes. A demon burned our house down. It's either gone, or the demon stole it," Izzy said.

"That's a shame. That book would have been very useful in aiding our cause," Valentine Morgenstern said, shaking his head in disappointment. "Son, cut Hodge loose, will you?"

Hodge didn't make any move to struggle or escape when his bonds had been cut, simply rubbing his wrists and eyeing Valentine warily.

"So we can go now, right?" Jace asked.

"What's the hurry? Stay," Valentine smiled at them. "I see that hunting runs in the veins, after all. Even though your parents tried to leave the life. Why don't you kids stick around? I'm sure you could learn a thing or two - and if you decide to leave, and go solo, we won't stop you."

"That's very kind of you to offer. We will," Izzy said brightly. Alec and Jace tried to look as if they agreed with their sister.

"The Lightwoods and Herondales return to the fold at last," Valentine said cheerfully. "And Hodge will stay too, won't he?"

Hodge frowned, but nodded.

 

 

It turned out that a group of hunters this big meant that they were all staying in a rundown apartment building, an arrangement that Alec wasn't entirely sure was legal. It was the main safe house used by the group, Valentine had explained, and he told them that they called themselves the Circle. All the initial members had gotten a tattoo to commemorate the formation of the group, but Alec supposed his parents had lasered theirs off. Valentine had tried to regale them with tales of hunts he had gone on with their parents when they were all younger, but Alec wasn't buying his kindly-family-friend shtick. For one, Hodge had quickly been separated from them, ostensibly so that he couldn't warn them of Valentine's true intentions. Secondly, Jonathan Morgenstern stuck annoyingly close to Izzy, chatting with her and making her laugh.

It was only after the Lightwoods had been left alone in one of the apartments that Alec rounded on Izzy.

"What the hell, Iz?!" Alec fumed, careful to keep his voice down - the walls of the apartment building were very old and thin.

"Look, we've got demons on our tail. It makes sense to stick with a big group of experienced hunters. Safety in numbers, right?" Izzy replied quietly. "We don't have to trust them. Just play along with them."

"Izzy's got a point. I mean, what they were saying, about wanting to get rid of all the demons and monsters? That doesn't sound like a bad thing," Jace agreed reluctantly.

"But you saw what they were doing to Hodge, heard Hodge saying what they were doing was wrong. He walked away from them - _our parents_ walked away from them. Doesn't that sound sketchy?" Alec asked in a low voice. "And he seemed to want that book pretty badly."

"What I want to know is what the hell is in that book. Why does everybody want the damned thing?" Jace muttered.

"Well, we can't let him get it, but we can't let the demon get it either," Izzy said decisively. "But first we've got to try to talk to Hodge, and if Valentine is keeping him here, it makes sense for us to stay too."

"So you plan to find out where the book is, then make a run for it?" Alec asked incredulously. "It's a dozen of them to three of us - four, if you count Hodge. There's no way they're going to let us off."

"We're just using them for the protection they can provide us - it'll be fine," Izzy said. "They won't even realise we've double-crossed them until it's too late and we're miles away."

 

_**-THREE MONTHS LATER-** _

 

"You've got to stay quiet, alright?" Alec whispered to the little girl and little boy huddled next to him. They nodded, their fox-like eyes wide in the dark, and Alec tightened his grip on his gun. Just a little further - he just had to get them across the boundaries of the salt lines the hunters had laid out all around the building.

The abandoned warehouse Valentine used as a prison and laboratory for all the creatures he collected was damp, dark, and foul-smelling. It wasn't logical, but Alec thought all the pain and misery of the prisoners had seeped into the cold concrete walls, turning the whole building into a sentient thing that sucked out all the warmth in his body. Touching the peeling green-grey walls made his skin crawl. There were bloodstains everywhere, old and new, and claw marks on the doors and the walls.

Alec herded the children a few feet forward at a time, ducking behind rotting crates at the first suggestion of movement in the dark, but they managed to make it all the way out of the front doors of the building before Alec caught sight of anybody.

Blond hair. Jonathan Morgenstern. _Fuck_.

He was just rounding the corner, and there was no cover for at least ten feet before they could reach the safety of the tall grass that surrounded the building. Alec picked the children up, one in each arm, and ran as fast as he could to the other side of the building, sliding into the shadows just in time. He watched Jonathan go inside the building with bated breath, hoping the other hunter really hadn't seen them, then breathed out in relief when he didn't come out again.

"Come on," Alec whispered.

He led them through the field of tall grass, their progress slow because of the muddiness and uneven ground, but they finally made it to the other side. Alec reached into his backpack and took out a large silver goblet, and the Swiss army knife in his pocket. The kitsune children shrank away from him at the sight of the weapon.

"Hey, no - it's alright. I'm not going to hurt you," Alec said quickly. "It's uh, for me."

He flicked out a blade and sliced his own palm open, then held his clenched fist over the goblet, letting his blood trickle into it until the base of the goblet was filled. He cupped the goblet in his uninjured hand and peered into the mess uncertainly.

" _Inferni clamavi ad te Magnus Bane sermonos meos_ ," Alec said, and the blood in the goblet began to bubble nauseatingly.

The children gasped, and Alec looked up - there he was, walking down the muddy path towards them, dressed in a black button-down, black leather pants, and a black peacoat studded with rhinestones.

"Two of them this time. This counts as two more months off the time you have left," Magnus reminded him.

"I know," Alec said, jaws clenched.

Magnus' expression was unreadable. "Perhaps it's time you started looking for that book, hmm?"

Alec watched Magnus disappear in the blink of an eye with the little kitsune children, and heaved a sigh of relief - for them. His own situation... now, that was a little more complicated. Because he had no idea where the book Magnus wanted was, Hodge was dead, his siblings were in the thrall of a mad man's dream, and now he only had a little under five months left before the hellhounds came for his soul.

 

_**-TWO MONTHS AGO-** _

 

The house in the suburbs could have belonged to any normal family. Floral curtains, neat little lawn with an amateur gardener's struggling seedlings, actual fucking white picket fences. Except that the hunters had stormed into the place and overpowered the little werewolf family, knocked them out with tranquilisers strong enough to take down elephants, and even now they were carting them off to some unknown place where Valentine Morgenstern claimed he was trying to "cure" them, turn them back to humans again.

Once he was sure nobody was paying attention to them, Alec grabbed his siblings and pulled them aside. "They weren't hurting anyone," Alec hissed. "We went to the farm, we talked to the police. We saw the stuff in their fridge. They were feeding on the hearts of cattle and pigs."

"Alec, come on, bro," Jace sighed.

"Don't 'come on' me," Alec said fiercely. "They're not the only bunch of monsters we're pulling tonight. There are at least two more teams out there, and we've been doing this for almost a whole fucking month. If Valentine still hasn't succeeded in finding a cure, that's at least a hundred vamps, werewolves, skinwalkers, rugaru, kitsune, wendigos - is there even a cure for some of them? Were they even human once?"

"Look - he's a visionary. But even visionaries need time to make their dreams come true," Izzy said impatiently. "Nobody even thought of curing them before this, just stabbing them in the heart and chopping off their heads."

"Where are all these monsters he's collected, huh?" Alec asked challengingly. "You think he's got them all settled in a five-star hotel somewhere?"

"Don't be ridiculous," Izzy scoffed, but she wouldn't meet his eyes.

"There was a kid in the family we captured tonight. A little girl," Alec growled. "We're just going to hand her over? Just like that, without any questions?"

"We've also saved more people in the past month than we have in the entire year we were hunting on our own," Izzy pointed out. "Even you can't deny that. Every mission is properly planned. No losses, no mistakes - clean, efficient hunting with no human lives lost."

"So what's the lives of a few monsters in trade? Is that what you're saying?" Alec said, his voice low and angry.

"Hey. Stop fighting," Jace said tiredly. He'd never had to play mediator in his life - usually he was the one arguing with Alec or fighting with Izzy. "We're all tired, yeah? We'll all feel better after some sleep."

Except sleeping was going to be out of the question, at least for Alec, because when they returned to the apartment building shared by the hunters, Jonathan Morgenstern was waiting outside their door for them with an apologetic look on his face.

"Hey man. What's up?" Jace asked.

"I'm sorry," Jonathan said, but Alec thought he didn't sound sorry at all. "I know you guys were close to Hodge. He was on my team tonight, and one of the ghouls must have jumped him... anyway, when we found him, Hodge was already dead."

 

  
Alec waited until Izzy and Jace were asleep before getting dressed and sneaking out. He wasn't worried about waking Izzy up, even though she was a light sleeper - she had cried herself to sleep over Hodge, drunk a bit too much whiskey in memory of him despite their complicated relationship. Alcohol was always in plentiful supply in the Circle's safe house.

They hadn't been able to speak privately with Hodge in the month since they had joined Valentine Morgenstern's group, but that wasn't even entirely to blame on Jonathan getting underfoot all the time. Part of it was Alec's doing - he had wanted to catch Hodge alone without his siblings to ask what the numbers meant and where the book was hidden, because Izzy and Jace had decided that they weren't going to hand the book over to a demon - because they didn't understand that it was Alec's "Get Out of Hell Free" card. And since Alec couldn't sleep from thinking about the mess he'd gotten himself into, there was only one solution to his sleeplessness: find out what they'd done to the little werewolf girl, show his siblings exactly what kind of person Valentine Morgenstern was, then get the hell out of here - if they could.

There were a couple of sentries around the apartment building, in addition to the various protections put in place - salt lines on every doorway and windowsill and all around the entire compound, and iron filings worked into the ground. The Circle also had a small fleet of trucks at their disposal, and Alec hoped he wouldn't need to steal one because he had no idea how to hotwire a car - although he supposed he could always Google it. He tested the doors on all of them, and found one that hadn't been locked properly, and quickly sneaked in. He'd been expecting it to be empty, but it wasn't. There were a few cardboard cartons containing sterilised syringes and needles still in their vacuum-sealed packaging, bottles of saline solution, test tubes - it all seemed more like stuff for a science lab than a holding place for monsters. Unless, of course, for the Circle, they were the same thing.

Just then, he heard footsteps, then the cab door of the truck opening and shutting. Alec crouched down at once, bracing himself, and the truck began to move. It didn't travel for very long, and Alec was relieved that his GPS showed they were still in walking distance from the safe house. Unfortunately, if the driver was going to start unpacking the supplies from the back of the truck, he was definitely going to get caught. Alec went up to the door, prepared to punch someone's lights out - but the door never opened. Instead, he heard the footsteps of the truck driver moving away. He waited a few minutes, then quickly opened the door, shot a furtive look around, then dashed for cover in the shadows of the hulking building in front of him. A short while later, two men came out of the building - Alec recognised them as two brothers, Emil and Anson Pangborn. One of them propped the front door open with a brick before they made their way to the truck, and Alec took the opportunity to slip in while they were occupied with unloading the truck.

At first it seemed like there were just an endless series of corridors blocked by stacks of supplies, and Alec wondered if he'd accidentally hitched a ride to an ordinary warehouse. Then he followed his hunch and went into the basement.

Cages. The basement was full of cages, and each cage was packed with monsters of every kind, some cramped into such a small space that they were practically sitting on each other. And many of them seemed to be weak, or sick - staring listlessly at Alec. Whatever they were, there was no getting around the fact that most of them looked human, and everything about this was making his stomach turn.

He went down the line until he found the werewolf family they'd captured earlier that night. They were snarling and trying to avoid touching the bars of the cage, which must have been coated with silver, Alec realised. The little girl, who must have been around 4 or 5 years old, was surrounded protectively by the adults.

"Get away from us!" one of them yelled at him.

"I want to help you guys get out of here," Alec said quietly.

"I wouldn't believe him," someone said from a nearby cage. Alec wasn’t quite sure what he was - a skinwalker, maybe. "He smells a lot like that girl who's been taking our blood samples."

"What girl?" Alec asked, heart plummeting. _It couldn't be._

"Long black hair, tiny thing. The blond boy called her 'Izzy'."

Alec didn't know how long he stood staring at the man ( _monster?_ ) in shock, a roaring sound filling his ears. "They're trying to find a cure for all of you," he said, and the excuse sounded weak even to himself.

"Cure?" the man scoffed. "Can you cure a lion from being a lion, and turn it into a sheep? You're just not happy about being prey, that's all. And what they're making is not a cure - it's a weapon."

But Izzy wouldn't do that. She wouldn't be part of something that involved this sort of torture. She had a healthy curiosity for the way the body worked, and it'd always been her dream to be a doctor. She wanted to help people, not use them as lab rats. Except, of course, if she didn't consider the prisoners here people.

If Izzy knew about what they were doing here, did Jace know too? He'd gotten pretty close to Jonathan as well.

"Do you really mean to help us?" one of the werewolves asked, jolting Alec from his jumbled thoughts.

"Yeah."

They were all looking at him now, and Alec felt like he was being weighed in the balance, and would probably be found wanting. So he was pretty surprised when they seemed to decide he was their only hope, slim though it may be. "We probably can't get through, but my baby girl - please, you have to get her out of here," one of the she-wolves pleaded.

"We could probably bend the bars enough for her to get through," one of the male werewolves said. "But they'll notice she's escaped."

"Pretend you ate her," the man from the nearby cage suggested. "Hunters will believe anything nasty about us - isn't that true?" he smiled toothily at Alec.

It took all of the wolves working together to pull the bars of the cages apart enough for the girl to slip through, and even then the silver had burned her in places.

"Mama," she cried, and the she-wolf did her best to hold her child's hand through the bars with a teary smile.

"Be brave for me, ok, sweetie? Go to your Aunt Maia. Mummy will join you as soon as she can."

"We've got to go, before someone comes along," Alec interrupted gently, even though this was killing him on the inside.

"I love you, baby girl," the she-wolf whispered to her daughter, then she turned her eyes to Alec. "Promise me you'll do whatever it takes to get her to safety."

"I promise," Alec said, wondering if this was something he had the right to promise when he wasn't even sure he could save himself.

 

 

But make it out they did. And Alec breathed a sigh of relief when they were a safe distance from the building, walking down a muddy side road in the opposite direction from the hunters' headquarters.

"So, um. Where does this aunt of yours live?" Alec asked the girl.

The little girl scrunched up her face in thought. "Cypress Mountain."

Cypress Mountain? That was all the way in Vancouver. Shit. There was no way Alec could get her all the way there without the Circle noticing he was gone. He couldn't leave Izzy and Jace behind here in this hellhole, even if they were under some misguided delusion that they were doing something good. And he couldn't possibly ask a 5-year-old to hitchhike there on her own, werewolf or not. Alec looked all around, wondering how the hell he was going to get out of this mess before the other hunters discovered what he'd done and caught up with him, when he realised he was standing at a crossroads.

This was the stupidest thing he had ever done, and that was saying something considering he'd already sold his soul to a demon. But ironic as it was, Alec thought he trusted Magnus more than all of Valentine's men combined. At least Magnus had never pretended to be anything other than evil. He just needed to word this contract right.

"Magnus!" Alec whispered into the quiet night. He didn't have the necessary ingredients to summon a crossroad demon, and even if he did he wasn't sure he'd get Magnus again. Maybe they'd take a message, though. "Magnus Bane!" The little werewolf girl was staring at him like he'd lost his mind, and she probably wasn't too far off the mark.

Alec crouched down in the middle of the crossroads. He didn't have any candles or special ingredients, but he had a feeling that was all just bells and whistles. When it came down to it, demons were all about blood.

He drew one of the sigils he remembered from the _Pseudomonarchia Daedonum_ in the dirt, a sigil meant for general demon summonings - a circle in a triangle and some squiggly symbols that he hoped he'd remembered right - then he cut the tip of his finger with his Swiss army knife. He dripped a few drops of blood in the middle of the circle.

" _Daemon, esto subjecto voluntati meae_ ," Alec muttered.

"I thought we had something special, Alexander. Are you trying to cheat on me with other demons?"

Alec startled, not having expected it to actually work, and the werewolf girl let out a small scream.

Magnus was walking down one of the roads towards them, looking genuinely upset and agitated despite his flirty talk - this might have been the first time Alec had seen him show any other expression outside his usual flippant facade. "You're lucky I was hanging around and heard you before any of the other demons did."

"I need your help," Alec said quickly. "I need to get this child to a safe place quickly."

"And _I'm_ the one you came running to?" Magnus frowned. "I was under the impression that you actually liked your siblings."

"It's an emergency," Alec shook his head. _And I don't know who they are anymore._ "I need you to get her to her Aunt Maia in Vancouver safely. Not a scratch on her. And after that you leave them well alone - you and your minions aren't allowed to go near her or her family, and as far as she's concerned, you don't exist. She owes you nothing for it. Any price that needs to be paid, it's on me and only me."

"That's a lot of demands. And pray tell, what exactly do you think you're using to pay for this favour? You've already sold your soul to me, there's nothing else for you to bargain with, and I've told you I'm not interested in sexual favo-"

"Time. I have time," Alec interrupted him. "Our deal was for a year, right? I still have ten months of that time. One week for each person you help me save."

Magnus raised an eyebrow at him. "One week?"

Alec gritted his teeth. "Fine. One month."

"For the life of a monster?"

"They can't help the way they are born. And they're trying their best not to hurt anyone."

Magnus moved a little closer. "Are you sure?"

Alec met his gaze squarely. "Yes." He leaned forward determinedly and kissed Magnus firmly before backing away in a hurry.

Magnus seemed surprised, but recovered quickly. "Done. You have your deal."

Alec nodded and cleared his throat. "I need a way of contacting you in future."

"Are you asking me for my number?" Magnus smirked. With the snap of his fingers, he produced a large silver goblet. It was large enough that Alec's hand didn't quite go round the bowl part of it, and the sides were decorated with the twisted grimaces of tormented faces, barely recognisable as human in their agony.

"What's wrong with a cellphone?" Alec frowned as he took the goblet gingerly, and Magnus let out a short snort of laughter.

"Calls made from a cellphone can be traced, eavesdropped upon," Magnus explained. "Besides, the cell service in Hell is terrible - you barely get any topside, as it is."

"How do I use this?"

"Put a bit of blood in it - human blood, mind you - and speak the following incantation: _Inferni clamavi ad te Magnus Bane sermonos meos_."

Magnus stepped away from Alec to place a hand on the shoulder of the werewolf girl, then cocked his head consideringly at Alec. "You're not what I expected you to be, Alexander Lightwood," Magnus said quietly, and then he was gone.

 


	8. When The Levee Breaks

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _If it keeps on rainin', levee's goin' to break_   
>  _If it keeps on rainin', levee's goin' to break_   
>  _Cryin' won't help you, prayin' won't do you no good_
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> [_"When The Levee Breaks", Led Zeppelin_ ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b97hqSDRspw)
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> ***Please note that fic tags have been updated because of this chapter.**

 

 

Four-five-four-eight-nine-three.

Alec had turned the numbers over and over in his mind so many times, they were all jumbling together. He'd wondered if they were the passcode to a bank account or security deposit box, except Hodge seemed to have been living from hand-to-mouth and hunters generally didn't want anything to do with banks and hospitals and other official institutions. Besides, the book had been with Maryse and Robert Lightwood - Hodge had said as much to Valentine. Alec had Googled it forwards and backwards. He'd substituted the numbers for their corresponding letters in the alphabet to see if it might be a cipher, or an anagram. Alec had tried to figure out if it was a date, hex code, phone number or even an obscure statistic, but was coming up blank. For all he knew, it was supposed to point them to the recipe for Hot Italian Sausage Casserole on food.com. 

He closed his laptop in frustration, running a hand through his hair. They'd all been trying to figure it out for months - it wasn't as if an answer was going to miraculously turn up now just because he was desperate.

The door of the apartment opened, and and Izzy and Jace came in. They exchanged a look when they saw that he was in - he'd been avoiding them ever since he'd discovered their involvement in Valentine's experiments. Alec knew that look. They'd been discussing him behind his back. 

"What happened to your hand?" Izzy asked, gaze going to Alec's bandaged hand. 

"Nothing," Alec brushed her off, watching Jace move to his other side out of the corner of his eye and starting to feel boxed in. 

"Did the kitsune kids get you?" Jace asked.

"What kids?" Alec asked, keeping his voice even.  

"Did you help someone free the two kitsune kids last night, and maybe even the werewolf girl a couple of months ago?" Izzy asked. 

"So what if I did? You're going to rat me out to Valentine?" Alec asked coolly. "Maybe he'll stick me in a cage as a replacement for you to experiment on."

Izzy sighed. "Alec, we know kids are a soft spot with you. But we actually really need the kids for better results during the experiment-"

"There's so much wrong with that sentence that I don't even know where to start. It's like I don't even know you anymore," Alec said, and he couldn't even find the energy to be angry.

This wasn't the first time they'd had an argument about this - after Alec had freed the werewolf girl, he'd tried to convince Izzy and Jace that there was something wrong with Valentine and his Circle of hunters, but Izzy and Jace didn't seem to want to believe the worst of their new idol. And Alec was just so tired of trying. What did it matter? It'd all be over for him in five months time - or less, if they brought in more kids, and he managed to rescue them. Maybe he'd take a blowtorch and open every damned cage in that building before his time was up.

"I've explained this to you before," Izzy said with forced patience. "We need the kids because we thought the cure serum might work better on children, or at least before puberty. _I'm_ the one doing the tests on the blood samples, trying to separate what makes their blood not human. Even if you don't trust Valentine, you can trust me, right?"

"You're developing this cure serum all on your own? Wow, Izzy, good thing you didn't have to saddle yourself with hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt to get that medical degree, when you're already out here developing a serum that can 'cure' one species by changing it to another," Alec bit out sarcastically. 

"No, of course not. There are other people involved in the project," Izzy said. "But that doesn't mean-"

"These tests that you're doing - can't they use the results to find out what _kills_ them faster?" Alec challenged. 

Izzy frowned. "No, because that goes against the vision Valentine has for the future." 

"Sure, he's not lying to you. Why would he be?" Alec shrugged and got up, ignoring the way Jace stood up as well, as though to block his way. He wanted out of this apartment, this conversation. 

"I was skeptical when I heard about it, too. But I told you, I went down to the lab with Izzy and Jonathan, and it's pretty legit. I mean, they've knocked out the monsters with a tranq or something so Izzy can draw the blood, but they've got them in hospital gowns and stuff, and they look well-fed, healthy," Jace said. "It's not a swanky hotel, but it's not that bad. Jonathan says they run it like a psych ward."

"Yeah, a psych ward. Electroshock therapy, lobotomies, removing organs to see how the monsters tick. Where they keep everybody in cages and shackles. That kind of psych ward," Alec replied snidely. "Have you seen these mythical clean and comfortable hospital rooms? Have you spoken to any of them while they were actually awake? Because I've been there, and I've spoken to them. I had to - since I was the one who freed the kids."  

That seemed to throw Izzy and Jace off. 

"Wait - are you saying you freed them all by yourself?" Jace asked in bewilderment. "Not, like, you let something into the building?"

"But how? How did you do it on your own? Where have you hidden them?" Izzy asked.

"Obviously I'm not telling you two - since you seem to be all for injecting them full of stuff to see what will kill them faster," Alec said savagely. 

"So you were serious about the cages, and the other experiments?" Izzy asked, and it was the continued tone of skepticism in her voice that did it for Alec. 

"You know what - why don't you go and ask your new best friend Jonathan Morgenstern to show you what his father keeps in the basement," Alec snapped, shoving Jace aside and making for the door. 

 

 

Alcohol might have been in plentiful supply at the safe house, but it was distance Alec needed - and since his Honda had been locked up in a garage somewhere since they'd moved into the safe house, he hotwired one of the trucks, and got out of there. He had nothing on him but the clothes on his back, his bank card, and a couple of silver knives hidden on his person, but it was tempting to keep driving. Just leave all of it behind. Perhaps it'd be better, in a way - that way, his siblings would never need to know the price he had paid for bringing them back from the dead. 

But in the end he couldn't bring himself to abandon Izzy and Jace to the Circle and the mess they would inevitably find themselves in when shit hit the fan - and Alec had high hopes that the Circle was going to find all out anarchy on their hands sooner rather than later. So Alec found a bar, with the intention of getting royally smashed and sleeping it off in the truck he'd stolen, before making his way back to the safe house the next day. 

The bar was smoky, half-full. Becoming a hunter had caused a slow degradation of Alec's sense of time, but the deal had thrown his awareness of the days and weeks passing back into full technicolour. It was a Thursday - people gearing up for the weekend, and some people just in need of a drink to get them past Friday. He settled himself in the darkest corner of the bar counter and ordered himself a whiskey, but someone sat on the bar stool next to his before his drink could even arrive. 

"Why are you always hanging around me?" Alec asked, not even surprised anymore. 

"I'm looking after my investment," Magnus shrugged, signalling the bartender for his own order. 

"Your investment," Alec repeated dully. "Well, I wouldn't worry. You'll be collecting soon."

"In some ways, you're a sure thing," Magnus agreed, then turned a sly smile at Alec. "In other ways..."

"Over my dead body." 

"I know people think demons are all depraved, but necrophilia is not really my thing." 

Alec snorted.  

"All work and no play makes Alexander a very dull boy," Magnus said in a cajoling tone.

Alec chanced a glance at him - taking in pants that were so tight they might as well have been painted on, and the black silk shirt bursting at the seams and open almost to Magnus' navel - and immediately regretted looking. "I'll pass."

"So stubborn," Magnus tutted and shook his head. "You're clearly interested, and I'm offering - no strings attached, just a good time for the both of us. So what are you so afraid of? Are you scared of what your siblings might think of you if they knew you'd slept with a demon?" 

"Let's not talk about them, shall we?" Alec ground his teeth together.

Magnus raised an eyebrow. "Ah. Now I know why you came running to me for help. They've disappointed you. After everything you did for them."

"What would you know about siblings, or family?" Alec snapped.

"More than you think. I wouldn't be quite as successful at making you dance to my tune, if I didn't understand what family meant to you," Magnus pointed out candidly.

The bartender came by with a glass of whiskey and a martini, and Alec watched Magnus pop the olive into his mouth.

"You were human once, weren't you?" Alec asked quietly. 

"Ages and ages ago. I don't remember what it was like anymore," Magnus replied airily. 

"What happened? How did you become a demon?" 

"Hell happened," Magnus shrugged. 

Hell? Just that? No black magic, no dark rituals? Alec stared, wide-eyed. "Wait, so after you've claimed my soul, and you bring it to Hell," Alec swallowed hard. "Am I... will I...?" 

Magnus took a sip of his martini and nodded. "Yes. It might take decades, or centuries - but eventually Hell breaks everyone," he smiled mirthlessly at Alec. "And then you'll be one of us."

Oh, _fuck_. What had he done? 

Alec drained his whiskey in one go, then signalled for another one. When the bartender came around with his drink, he tried to pick it up but his hand was shaking so badly that some of it sloshed out over the rim of his glass and he had to put it back down again. 

A demon. After everything, he was going to become one of the things they loathed and hunted, and the worst kind of all. And it would never be over for him, no rest for the wicked, just more pain and misery - _spreading_ more pain and misery and wrecking the lives of innocent people, because that's what demons did.

He felt as if all the air had been punched out of his lungs, and there was a weight crushing his chest, but it didn't make sense because he could clearly hear his breaths coming in harsh pants. Then there was a warm hand on his cheek, turning his face, and lips against his, and-

"What the fuck was that?" Alec snarled, shoving Magnus away.  

"I'm distracting you from your little crisis. Is it working?" Magnus asked, unperturbed by Alec's violent reaction.

He had five months left to kick around in this god-forsaken place, and then he would be truly damned. Alec didn't want to think, didn't want to feel. "Yes," Alec decided, and hauled Magnus closer to kiss him again. 

And fuck, if Magnus wasn't a good kisser - that clever tongue of his was twisting Alec's stomach with desire as it licked into his mouth, his lips were warm and soft, the hint of teeth pressing on Alec's lips just a bit dangerous. And maybe Alec was in the mood for a little recklessness.

Alec broke off from the kiss. "We're going to the nearest motel."

"Oh?" Magnus asked, sounding a little breathless.

Alec met Magnus' eyes. He was using whatever powers he usually used to disguise his demon nature, his eyes brown and human. It made it easier to pretend that he was just some attractive guy Alec had picked up at a bar instead of the key to Alec's damnation. "I'm going to Hell anyway. Might as well enjoy the ride." 

Magnus smirked. "Oh I know I'm definitely going to enjoy _this_ ride."

 

 

They'd barely gotten into the motel room before Magnus had Alec up against a wall, mouth hot on his lips, then his jawline, working his way down to Alec's neck. Alec almost tilted his head back to give Magnus more room when he remembered he was supposed to be taking charge of this and flipped them around, slamming Magnus against the door hard enough to knock the air out of his lungs, but Magnus merely laughed. Alec scowled, grabbed a fistful of Magnus' shirt and crashed his mouth against Magnus', determined to wipe the smug look off his face, but Magnus took control of the kiss easily - tongue invading Alec's mouth like he already owned him, ringed fingers tugging at his scalp. Alec felt a hand cupping him through his jeans, brazenly feeling him up, and he moaned and returned the favour to find Magnus already half-hard.  

Alec shoved Magnus onto the bed and climbed over him, struggling with the complicated buckle of Magnus' belt for a while, before Magnus lifted a hand and vanished all his clothes with a lazy snap of his fingers. Alec suddenly found a very naked, very sculpted body underneath him, unexpectedly adorned with ink on one hip, and Magnus' cock jutting out proudly a few inches from his face. It occurred to Alec that this was the first time he would be completely naked with someone, but he wasn't going to let it become a weakness Magnus could use against him. He glanced up to see Magnus watching him, almost daring him - he took a deep breath, then took in as much of Magnus' cock as he could fit inside his mouth, swirling his tongue around the head as he went down. 

"Fuck, Alexander," Magnus groaned, tangling a hand in his hair - then he grasped a fistful of it and forced Alec's head down suddenly, causing the cock in his mouth to slide further in and hit the back of his throat. Alec choked and pulled off, coughing.

"You'll learn how to take all of it, eventually," Magnus promised slyly. 

Eyes watering and still coughing, Alec glared at him. He wasn't going to let Magnus have the satisfaction of getting to him. 

Alec got off the bed, pulling his own t-shirt off, then started working off his own jeans. Magnus just lay there indolently, gloriously naked, his cock hard and shiny with spit, unabashedly watching Alec undress. 

"I want to fuck you," Alec said brusquely, making it clear in his tone of voice that that was the only way they were doing this at all.

"If you want it, come and get it," Magnus smirked.  

Alec climbed back over Magnus, looming over him and pressing their groins together, groaning at the first contact of their cocks rubbing together. Magnus rocked his hips up against Alec's, then wrapped his legs around Alec's waist, and rolled them over so he was straddling Alec. Alec struggled to sit up at once, pushing himself up on his elbows, but Magnus kept crowding him until Alec was trapped leaning against the headboard. He flashed Alec a predatory smile, climbed into Alec's lap, then angled himself like he was just going to sit straight down and take Alec's cock into his body.

"Wait," Alec hesitated, hands going to Magnus' hips. Just because Alec hadn't done this before didn't mean he didn't know the mechanics of it. He knew they needed some stuff - lube, condoms, things like that. Although it was probably ridiculous to be thinking about condoms when he was about to have sex with a literal demon. 

Magnus laughed softly, reading his mind. "Don't you worry, darling. The only thing you're catching from me is hellfire. As for the rest..."

Magnus snapped his fingers and let out a soft gasp, eyes fluttering shut and bracing himself against Alec's shoulder, even though he must have anticipated whatever he had just done to himself. Then he took a deep breath, opened his eyes, and lowered himself until Alec's cock was pressing into the dip of Magnus' entrance, and Alec immediately felt the wet slickness there. He looked up at Magnus to find him smirking knowingly at him, and Magnus' eyes flashed gold. 

There was no point lying to himself anymore - Magnus might have been a demon, but Alec _wanted_ him, an inexorable attraction he couldn't explain. And Magnus wasn't going to let him forget exactly who - or _what_ he was having sex with. Glowing eyes locked onto his, Magnus lowered himself even further.

And he was tight. God, he was _too_ tight. This couldn't be right, it must have been outright painful for Magnus to be taking Alec in like this, and Alec gripped Magnus' hips to stop him again. 

"Stop," Alec panted, the intense pleasure warring with a rising panic. 

"It's ok," Magnus hushed him. 

"None of this is ok, this is so far from ok!"

"Oh, darling. You're forgetting that I'm a demon," Magnus said breathlessly. 

"But-" Alec gasped as Magnus slid down another inch. 

"Feels good, doesn't it? I know it does."

"I'm hurting you," Alec protested.  

"I have endured agonies you can't even imagine in the Pit, torments beyond your comprehension, but this - _oh_ , this," Magnus moaned throwing his head back as he lowered himself, and Alec felt Magnus' body tensing, resisting, then yielding. "I just want to _feel_ something again."

"Magnus- _fuck_!" Alec dropped his head to Magnus' shoulder as Magnus sank down all the way and took Alec's length fully into his body. He couldn't think, couldn't breathe - not with the way Magnus' heat was surrounding him, clenching around him. 

"I'm going to ruin you, Alexander," Magnus whispered in his ear, and Alec shuddered, fingers digging harder into Magnus' hips. "I'm going to make sure that even after the fires of Hell burn away everything that you once were, you will never forget the moment you first fell from grace."

Magnus lifted himself off Alec's lap partway, then took him back, pelvis-deep into his body, and Alec almost forgot who he was right there and then. The drag of it, the heat of it - Alec was drowning in sensation, completely at Magnus' mercy as he rode Alec at a punishing pace. Magnus' hands ran down his pecs to his nipples and pinched them hard, and Alec cried out, shocked out of his daze of pleasure. He wasn't the one taking it up the ass, but he was still definitely the one being fucked over, and that wasn't what he'd wanted from this.

Alec grasped Magnus by his arms and pushed him onto his back, set on taking back the reins. Hooking one of Magnus' legs over his shoulder, he thrust hard into Magnus, and Magnus keened from the change in angle, rolling his hips into Alec's thrusts.

"Harder, oh, _harder_ , make me feel it-" 

And it should have been satisfying, fucking Magnus like this, making him cry out from the pounding he was getting from Alec. If he was going make Alec's life hell, at least he could give Alec some pleasure in return. Alec wanted to hate him, wanted to hurt him - but then Magnus opened his eyes to look at Alec, and there was something laid bare in them, no longer arrogant and challenging. So Alec found himself leaning forward to kiss Magnus, trying to find a connection in all this mess. 

Magnus promptly bit his lower lip, hard. 

Alec jerked back, stung. He was furious now - angry at himself for forgetting Magnus was a demon, angry that he had let himself imagine Magnus was capable of any sort of human emotion. He crushed their mouths back together, and he bit Magnus back in retaliation, hard enough to draw blood.

Magnus inhaled sharply and pushed at Alec's chest until he broke off from the kiss. There was actual shock on Magnus' face, the bright splash of blood on his lower lip drawing Alec's eye.

"Alexander," he whispered, and for a moment Alec thought he looked regretful. 

Magnus' blood was tingling on his tongue. It was... god, it was indescribable. Bitter, and burning, but sweet and intoxicating all at once. Alec leaned down to suck at Magnus' wounded lip, and a faint metallic tang of blood filled his mouth as he deepened the kiss, Magnus' mouth parting underneath his with a soft moan. 

Something had turned on its head, the connection Alec had been looking for flaring in place - maybe he had been right after all: for demons, in the end it all came down to blood. He felt like he was selling his soul all over again - or maybe it was Magnus' tormented soul that was being promised to him instead.

Magnus was carding through the fine hair at the nape of his neck with something almost like tenderness as Alec fucked into him, another hand tracing the curve of Alec's spine. Alec could feel the pressure heavy in his balls as Magnus pushed back against his every thrust, panting into his mouth and urging him to give him more, harder, faster. Alec's teeth found the cords of Magnus' neck, and he muffled a cry in the flesh of Magnus' shoulder as his rhythm began to falter and his cock pulsed inside Magnus.

"Oh, Alexander!" Magnus gasped in a mixture of pain and pleasure as Alec buried himself as deep as he could go and came inside him. Then Magnus was coming too, his release landing hot and wet between them. He writhed on Alec's cock as Alec did his best to fuck Magnus through their climaxes, and his clenching body ripped out a shout of Magnus' name from Alec's throat. 

 

 

Alec wasn't sure what happened after that - he must have rolled off Magnus at some point, maybe Magnus had cleaned them both up. But the next thing he knew, Alec was waking up to the incessant vibration of his phone on the nightstand, alone in the bed. It was only three in the morning, but Magnus had already left, and Alec couldn't decide whether that was a relief or a disappointment. His throat felt odd, and his lips and tongue felt numb - probably from Magnus biting them - and it took him a few tries before he'd cleared his throat enough to answer his phone.  

"Oh thank fuck," Jace's voice came over the line. "Where are you, man? We've got to get out of here." 

"What happened?" Alec frowned.  

"We'll explain later. Where are you?"

Alec was standing by the curb when the familiar black Honda came screeching down the road towards him. It had barely stopped when a door flew open and Izzy got out to hug him round the middle.

"Ouf. What's this all about?" Alec said in surprise. It had been a long time since Izzy had last hugged him.

"I'm so sorry, Alec. You were right, about the cages, about the experiments," Izzy said, shamefaced and slightly teary. 

Jace stuck his head out of the car and stared at Alec in disbelief. "Dude, what happened to your lip?"

Izzy took a step back in surprise to look properly at Alec, and Alec frowned. "What?"

"You look like... is that a hickey?" Izzy asked in amazement. 

"What, only the two of you are allowed to use sex as a coping mechanism?" Alec asked, resisting the urge to clap a hand over the offending mark on his neck. "Anyway, what the hell's happened?"

"Long story. Get in the car first," Jace suggested.

"We found the cages in the basement of the lab, so we unlocked all of them and set all of them free. So now we're on the run from the Circle," Izzy explained.

"Ok, not such a long story after all," Jace muttered, and there was a snort of laughter from inside the car. 

Alec frowned. Who else was in there? It couldn't be...

He leaned down to peer into the backseat, and found himself face to face with Jonathan Morgenstern.

 


	9. Paranoid

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _All day long I think of things but nothing seems to satisfy_   
>  _Think I'll lose my mind if I don't find something to pacify_   
>  _Can you help me, occupy my brain?_
> 
> [ _"Paranoid", Black Sabbath_ ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ExgUVFlGsAM)

 

 

"You've got to be kidding me," Alec scowled. "Why is _he_ here?" 

"He was the one who helped us trick the keys to the cages out of the guards," Izzy said. 

"I swear I didn't know what my dad was doing," Jonathan Morgenstern insisted. "I should have known there was a reason why he never let me inside the basement."

"Yeah, right," Alec scoffed. 

"Look, we've _really_ got to scram - we can talk this out in the car," Jace suggested, and Alec got in reluctantly.

Jace and Izzy filled him in on everything that had happened after he'd gone out to the bar - from when they'd gone to confront Jonathan, to how Jonathan had tricked and knocked out the guards, and the chaos that had followed when they had released all the inmates from the cages. 

"Well, we didn't free _all_ of them. We didn't think it was a good idea to go near the wendigo, for example. But we threw the key in, and they're pretty smart. Maybe it had enough human left to figure it out," Jace said. 

Alec didn't say anything to all that, watching Jonathan pointedly through the rearview mirror. Jonathan wasn't contributing anything to defend himself or support their story, watching Alec watching him. 

"How did you get the kids out all on your own, by the way?" Jace asked. "I heard that the werewolves claimed they'd eaten the first kid, so the Circle didn't search the place too hard. But when the kitsune kids went missing, once the alarm was sounded almost half the Circle were out looking for them - us included. And the trail was pretty fresh. Just ended in the middle of nowhere, not even half a mile away from the building." 

Obviously Alec wasn't going to tell them about Magnus, so he replied stiffly, "I have my ways."

Jace raised an eyebrow at him. "What, you called them an Uber?"  

"Something like that," Alec hedged. Izzy sighed and rolled her eyes. 

There was an awkward silence in the car, finally broken by Jonathan. "Look. I get it - you don't trust me."  

"Damn right I don't," Alec replied curtly. 

"Alec!" Izzy scolded, but Jonathan placed a hand on her arm. 

"It's ok." He turned his gaze to meet Alec's squarely through the mirror. "I understand how it looks like. If I were you, I wouldn't trust me either. Trust has to be earned, I get that."

Alec ignored Izzy's look of vindication. Jonathan could make himself sound reasonable and understanding all he wanted - Alec wasn’t going to fall for that. "Well, thank you for helping my siblings betray your father," he said sarcastically. "We can drop you off at the next greyhound station." 

"Alec, you don't seriously mean to run him off?" Izzy asked, aghast. "Where would he go, especially with the Circle after him?"

"If a good hunter wants to stay gone, he's gone. And Jonathan always leads the team - he's supposed to be one of the Circle's best. Isn't that what you guys have been telling me for months?" Alec asked. 

"It's ok, I'll be alright on my own. I'd hate for you guys to fight because of me," Jonathan said glibly. "I have a bit of money of my own. Next town we stop at, I could get a secondhand car, and then I'll be out of your hair." 

"Hey, no - stay, at least until you've figured out your plans for the future," Jace said quickly. 

"Alec doesn't speak for all of us," Izzy agreed, shooting a dirty look at Alec.

Jace stopped at a rest stop slightly after noon for all of them to stretch their legs and get some food. Alec wasn't quite satisfied that they had put enough distance between themselves and the Circle's headquarters for them to take a break, but his hands were starting to shake. He couldn't remember the last time he'd eaten a proper meal, and he'd had a late night of pretty strenuous activity, so that probably wasn't too unusual. 

He was also feeling a bit on edge, and it wasn't just that Jonathan Morgenstern was in the backseat. His throat and lips still hurt, and his mind kept going back to Magnus - the feeling of Magnus' body against his, the sounds he'd been making, and the way their kisses had felt towards the end, heady and almost tender.

Just the memory of it was making his skin tingle, but he hadn't forgotten what had caused his bout of recklessness in the first place. He'd been ready to give up and accept his fate, and make the best of his remaining five months. But now that he knew what was in store for him after, he was determined to do everything in his power to stop Magnus from collecting his soul - which meant finding the book. Unfortunately, that would have to wait until they'd ditched Jonathan. 

"Speaking of plans, what do you guys intend to do now?" Jonathan asked them when they were back on the road, with Alec behind the wheel. 

"Well... Hodge, er, left us a message. Before he died. Just a series of six numbers. We should probably try to figure out what they mean," Jace replied, and Alec silently cursed his brother's big mouth. 

"Six numbers," Jonathan repeated contemplatively. "Have you guys ever considered that they might be coordinates?" 

"Coordinates?" Izzy was already tapping rapidly on her phone.

Jonathan nodded. "Yeah. It's just that the Circle - the original group - used to use coordinates to communicate locations of meeting points, or hunting spots." 

Izzy gasped. "We've got a hit!" Izzy said excitedly. "This is definitely a possibility."

"Shit. Thanks, man," Jace said, reaching backwards to the back seat to give Jonathan a clap on the shoulder. "It's a real stroke of luck that you came along with us."

  

 

They stopped at the first good-sized town for the night, and as promised Jonathan got himself a car, and told the Lightwoods that he intended to hit it out on his own come morning. Alec couldn't wait to see the back of Jonathan Morgenstern, but his siblings obviously didn't agree. 

"Don't be a stranger, ok?" Izzy said as she hugged him and pecked him on the cheek. "Are you sure you'll be ok on your own?" 

"Well, this is the first time I've been on my own, to be honest. All my life it's always been Dad and me - but don't worry about me," Jonathan said, squaring his shoulders and putting on a brave face. It made Alec feel like punching him.

"Wisconsin is only a half day's drive away. You could come with us, follow behind us?" Izzy suggested.

"Nah, I know I've outstayed my welcome," Jonathan said with a glance at Alec.

"Well, you've got our numbers. If you need anything at all, run into any trouble..." Jace said, shaking his hand firmly. "Take care of yourself out there, man." 

"You too," Jonathan said. "I'll probably lay low for a while. Maybe work some simple jobs."

Alec waited impatiently, the nagging headache he'd woken up with growing as they stood there chatting. The moment Jace and Izzy were in the car, he zoomed off, leaving Jonathan behind in a plume of dust and exhaust.

"Alec, what is your problem?" Izzy hissed.

"He's Valentine's son. You expect me to believe he didn't know exactly what his father was up to?" Alec snorted. 

"Yes, because we knew everything _our_ parents were doing," Izzy said sarcastically.

"Guys, come on. I thought we'd just made up," Jace groaned. "Can we not start another thing? Jonathan is on his own, for better or for worse. Stop fretting about him, Izzy, he can take care of himself." Izzy glared at Jace, but didn't argue his point. 

"So what's in Wisconsin?" Alec asked. 

"A lock-up storage facility," Izzy replied. "The key we have, and those serial numbers - it fits, doesn't it?"

"And you think the book is inside there?" Jace asked. "What do we do once we get our hands on it, though?" 

Izzy shrugged. "Find out why everybody wants it? Alec, has the demon approached you again?" 

Alec shook his head, mouth suddenly dry and his pounding headache spiking. 

Barely an hour into the drive, Alec had to switch out with Jace, because his headache was so bad he couldn't see the road. They popped by a rest stop for him to get Tylenol and throat lozenges, and Alec dozed intermittently in the back seat wondering if he'd caught a cold at some point. They were half an hour away from their destination when Izzy's phone started ringing shrilly. 

"Jonathan? What- oh my god, of course we'll be right there. Hang on," Izzy gasped, then told Jace, "Turn back!"

"What's happening?" Alec asked groggily, wincing as Jace made a sharp turn on the road.  

"It's Jonathan. He tried to take out a nest of vamps on his own, and he got turned," Izzy explained.

"So we're going back to, what, help him cut his head off?" Alec frowned.

"No, he knows I have the cure," Izzy said.

"The cure? Wait - since when has there been a cure for vampirism?" Alec tried to sit up straighter, more confused by the minute.

"Since Izzy happened, of course," Jace grinned. 

"It was one of the things I was working on in Valentine's labs - and one of the things I stole when we ran away," Izzy explained. 

Alec stared. "What? You actually came up with a cure - a working, viable cure?"

"Well, the work was half done by then, but I discovered the final component in my first month in the labs," Izzy said with a small smile. "There are so many things in there, Alec - half finished cures that just need the last bit of work, theories for so many more."

"Why didn't you tell me?" Alec asked. At this point it was Izzy and Jace's word against the work of the various prisoners Valentine had kept in the basement. Could it be that _both_ were right - that Valentine had been searching for both weapons and cures? 

"With you going on about how Valentine was evil, and we were being idiots to believe a word he said?" Jace snorted. "Way to be supportive, bro."

"I'm sorry," Alec said, swallowing hard.

"No, don't. You weren't wrong about him, in the end. All those cages..." Izzy said, shuddering. "Besides, I haven't actually had the opportunity to test the cure out." 

"So we might actually be going back to cut his head off, then?" Alec muttered, leaning back against the seat again. "There's the silver lining I was looking for."

"Alec!"

"Joking, I'm joking," Alec said, then added more seriously, drifting off again. "I'm really proud of you, Iz. You know that, right? No matter what happens to me after this. I want you to know that I'd do it all over again for the both of you."

He closed his eyes, and missed the worried look his siblings exchanged.

 

 

Jonathan had given Izzy the directions to a derelict building, and they passed a number of beheaded vampire corpses before they found Jonathan Morgenstern huddled in a corner of the basement. His fangs were already out, and he was shivering with thirst. It appeared that he'd chained himself to a wall once he realised that he'd been turned, in place of the nest's human prisoners. 

"Jonathan, you haven't drunk any human blood, have you?" Izzy asked worriedly, and heaved a sigh of relief when Jonathan shook his head. "We need to find the vamp who sired him, for his blood. I need it for the cure," she told her brothers.

"Upstairs," Jonathan grated out. "Dead." 

"I'll go get that," Jace said, already heading upstairs. 

"And I'll get the rest of it ready," Izzy said, digging through their bag of potion ingredients and dumping things into a plastic drink bottle, then frowning. "How can we be out of grave dirt? I could have sworn we had some in here!" Izzy said in frustration.

And they had - until Alec had used it to summon a crossroad demon.

"I think we passed a cemetery on the way here. I'll go get some," Alec said quickly.

"You're sure you're alright to go?" Izzy asked. 

"Yeah, I'm feeling much better," Alec insisted. The smell of all the blood in the vamp nest was oddly unsettling - he'd pick driving with a headache over staying here. 

Alec found the cemetery easily enough. It was a small one in the backyard of the local church, and Alec picked one of the graves at random to steal some dirt from. There were no flowers or candles on the grave, but the grass growing on it was neatly trimmed, and when Alec glanced up at the gravestone, he nearly dropped the plastic bag he was using to collect the dirt. 

The words on the grave marker said: "Magnus Bane - beloved friend and a good man to the end." Then in much smaller type, right at the bottom of the gravestone, almost hidden by the grass growing on the grave, "Hell is empty and all the devils are here". The dates were much more recent than Alec expected - if Magnus had still been alive, he'd have been only a few years older than Alec, and the date of death was only about ten months before the fire at the Lightwoods.  

This was solid proof that Magnus had been human once, and not even that long ago. He'd had people he loved, friends he'd left behind who had cared enough to bury him properly.

But Magnus was walking around in his own body - so what was in the coffin?

Alec went back to his siblings in a daze. Even watching Jonathan down the cure and projectile-vomiting the vampire blood he'd ingested, and Izzy's euphoria that her cure had really worked, wasn't really enough to cut through his thoughts. If Magnus had been human, and died... wasn't he essentially a really jacked-up ghost? If his bones were salted and burned, could he be put to rest, like any other spirit? Alec could admit to himself that the thought of never seeing Magnus again left him a little hollow inside - but if he had the power to put Magnus' spirit to rest, to give him peace, and at the same time free himself from the deal he'd made, he'd be an idiot not to try.

He waited until his siblings and Jonathan were settled in a motel for the night before heading back to the cemetery, determined to dig up the coffin to see what was inside it. Alec had expected it to be slow going, digging up the grave on his own especially when he was feeling ill, but to his surprise he seemed to have reserves of strength he hadn't expected, and made quick work of it. When he had finally uncovered the top half of the wooden lid, he braced himself and slammed the flat of the shovel down on it to break the lid, then tossed the broken planks aside.

The coffin was empty. Alec stared down at the rotting satin lining inside the wooden box in disbelief. Why would anyone go to all that trouble to bury an empty box? 

There was the click of a gun safety behind him, and Alec whirled around to find a man standing over the grave with a shotgun aimed at Alec's face.

"You'd best have had a really good reason for digging up this grave, boy," the man growled. 

 


	10. In My Time Of Dying

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _In my time of dying_   
>  _Want nobody to mourn_   
>  _All I want for you to do_   
>  _Is take my body home_
> 
> [ _"In My Time Of Dying", Led Zeppelin_ ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zwLBaBeo1k4)

 

 

 

The man was maybe in his late forties, and British, from his accent. He clearly knew how to handle the shotgun in his hands, even though it looked really incongruous with the rest of him, maybe because of his formal clothes - a black long-sleeved shirt and black dress pants. Alec gaped at him for a moment - how did you explain to someone that you were digging up their friend's grave because their friend had turned into a demon?

"I... uh... this is not what it looks like."

The man narrowed his eyes at Alec, lowered his shotgun - then splashed a bottle of water in Alec's face. 

"What the-" Alec sputtered, not nearly quick enough to dodge the water completely. 

"I thought as much. Never seen a demon look that gormless," the man muttered.

"What was that for?!" Alec asked furiously, wiping his face with a shirt sleeve.

"It's just holy water," the man said impatiently. "So what are you? Vandal? Kid playing at being a hunter?"

"Hunter," Alec said, clearing his throat. Was this man a hunter as well, then?

"Not a very good one, then, if an old man like me could sneak up on you," the man snorted, gun trained on Alec again. "And you haven't answered my question - why did you dig this grave up?"

Alec cast about for a tactful way to say it, but decided there wasn't one. "Your, uh, friend. He's a demon now."

"How do you know?"

"I made a crossroad deal, and he is the demon who owns my contract," Alec admitted. 

"They turned him into a crossroad demon? Bloody hell," the man cursed. "Well, don't just stand in there like an idiot. There're no bones in there for you to salt and burn, we didn't have a body to bury."

"Then why bury an empty coffin?" Alec asked, hefting himself out of the hole he'd dug.

"There's a devil's trap under the coffin. I thought Magnus might come back," the man said.  

"What's a devil's trap?" Alec asked, dusting his clothes off ineffectually. When he looked up, the man was way too close for comfort - there was a flash of silver, and the man scratched him with a blade before darting out of Alec’s reach. 

"What the fuck?!" Alec clutched his arm. 

"Silver knife. Just checking that you aren't something else," he said unapologetically. "Always pays to be more careful." 

Alec was lost for words. He couldn't decide if this guy was being sensible and cautious, or just a real paranoid piece of work.  

The man gestured at the half-excavated grave. "Sort out this mess you've made, and let's go somewhere a little less exposed to talk before someone comes along asking too many questions."  

"Um, ok. I'm Alec, by the way."

He eyed Alec suspiciously for a few minutes, then replied gruffly, "I'm Ragnor. Get a bloody move on, will you? This isn't an afternoon tea social."

  

 

As it turned out, Ragnor lived in the church, which certainly explained why he'd discovered Alec so quickly. 

"You're the rector," Alec said. On second thought, the black shirt should have been a dead giveaway, even without the white collar.

"I prefer to think of myself as an academic of the occult," Ragnor said stiffly. "The Church just happens to pay the bills."

The room he'd let Alec into, a small space to the left of the altar and pulpit, must have been the office of the rectory, and was cluttered with towering stacks of books almost as tall as Alec. Maybe they were supposed to act as a deterrent to Ragnor's congregation, so that nobody would try to talk to him after mass. As it was, Alec had a hard time gingerly squeezing past everything without knocking over the teetering piles to make his way to the desk in the deepest corner of the room.

Ragnor settled himself in an ancient swivel chair, eyeing him critically. Alec tried to pull out the chair across from him without knocking anything over. "You made a deal, you said?" 

"My siblings were dying. I didn't have a choice," Alec replied, meeting Ragnor's gaze unflinchingly. 

"How long do you have left?"

"Five months." 

Ragnor frowned. "But that's not possible. Magnus hasn't been dead that long."

"I only got one year. Then... other stuff happened," Alec mumbled.

Ragnor narrowed his eyes but did not push for details. "Well, I'm sorry to hear that. I wish I could help you, but Magnus barely listened to me when he was alive." 

Alec shook his head - it'd been a long shot anyway. But Ragnor was a link into Magnus' past, and he couldn't help being curious, even if it wasn't going to do him any good to know what Magnus had been like when he was human. 

"You knew Magnus well?" 

"Magnus was my best friend - _our_ best friend," Ragnor said a little sadly. 

"Our?"

"Mine and Catarina's," Ragnor said heavily. "But Catarina's been dead for a few months now - cancer. We didn't know until it was too late."

"I'm sorry." 

"It's alright. She died peaceful, which is more than you can say for most hunters."

Alec nodded sympathetically. "So Magnus was a hunter too?" 

"He was. And a damned good one, at that. If he hadn't been saddled with the two of us, he would still be alive."

"He died during a hunt, then?" Alec frowned. It didn't make sense - he'd have thought that being a hunter, trying to do good in the world, would at least give you a fighting chance _not_ to end up in Hell.

"You know how it is in this life - death comes easy, and violently, for hunters. We thought we were hunting werewolves - turned out we were hunting a bunch of lunatics, and we were blindsided." 

"Lunatics? You mean... they were human?"  

Ragnor nodded. "They were some sort of cannibalistic hillbillies, a whole family of them - probably the result of inbreeding, something. They had been snatching people for years... kidnapping them, and slowly torturing and eating their victims. Last thing I remember was waking up in a cage with Catarina unconscious in the other cage, and - well, it's not something you want to hear about. Suffice to say that instead of hoping that we could get out of there alive, I had begun praying for the sweet release of death. Except we woke up with all our limbs intact, not even a scratch on us, and Magnus was gone."

"So you're saying he made a deal. He gave up his life for both of yours," Alec said incredulously. Given the parallels in their circumstances, he thought Magnus should really have been more sympathetic when he'd gone about summoning him. "Didn't he at least get the ten years?"

Ragnor shook his head. "It's more complicated than that, when it comes to Magnus. His birth parents were in a cult that worshipped the demon prince Asmodeus, and he was conceived during some sort of ritual orgy, where all the children were offered to Asmodeus - so in name at least, Magnus was Asmodeus' son. His mother ran away from the cult when she was pregnant with him, once she'd realised what she'd done, but it was too late - the claim had been made."

"That's why you knew he was going to come back as a demon. That's why you set a trap in the grave."

"I have a particular interest in demonology - that is how we became friends, really," Ragnor explained. "He was worried about what the claim would mean for him, and wrote to me when I was still living in England. Over the years we became friends, and when there were rumours that the original manuscript of the _Book of Soyga_  had turned up across the Pond-"

"Wait. The  _Book of Soyga_ \- that's another name for the _Aldaraia sive Soyga vocor_ , isn't it?" Alec frowned. 

"You've heard of it?" Ragnor looked surprised.  

"Magnus said that if I could find it, he might consider calling off his claim on my soul in exchange for it."

Ragnor snorted. " _Might consider_. I wouldn't take him at his word on that if he was still human, much less now that he's a demon."

"Oh." Alec ran a hand through his hair awkwardly.

"I understand the temptation," Ragnor said, not unkindly. "But to have that book fall into the hands of a demon could be catastrophic."

"Why? What's in it?" 

"I had the opportunity to study both copies before they were moved to the Vatican City. Most of it is nonsense - astrology, alchemy, the genealogies of angels, excerpts from other medieval spell books like the  _Liber Aldaraia_ and  _Liber Radiorum_. But what is intriguing about it is the last 18 pages - or 36 pages, depending on which copy you have on hand. Thirty-six tables of letters, completely indecipherable," Ragnor said, steepling his fingers. "Those thirty-six tables are written in Enochian, the lost language of the angels. And rumour has it, they hold the keys to either starting or stopping the Apocalypse."

"Starting _or_ stopping?" Alec asked as he tried to digest this information.  

"Or maybe both. Who knows?" Ragnor shrugged. "The original owner of the book said that the angel Uriel told him that only the Archangel Michael could properly interpret the meaning of those tables, but do you really want to risk it falling into the wrong hands? If you recall, Lucifer was once an Archangel, and he wasn't the only angel who fell - Magnus' infernal father, Asmodeus, was one of the original Fallen."

"You think that Magnus may be trying to get the book on Asmodeus' orders?" Alec guessed.  

Ragnor shrugged. "Your guess is as good as mine. But why would Magnus think you'd have a shot at getting your hands on the book, anyway? Last I heard, it was in the possession of a group of rogue hunters called the Circle."

"It's supposed to be with my parents. They used to be part of the Circle," Alec said, then at the sudden wariness on Ragnor's face, quickly added, "They left, and stole the book when they did. My siblings and I are not part of the Circle either. I swear we are nothing like them."

Ragnor did not look convinced.

"Look, a year ago, we didn't even know about all this supernatural stuff, alright?" Alec said huffily. "My parents and baby brother were killed by Magnus. That's how it all started. I never wanted this - _we_ never wanted any of this."

Ragnor pursed his lips. "Well. You'll soon learn that most of the other hunters give the Circle a wide berth. They're bad news."

"Yeah, they've been experimenting on the creatures they catch on hunts. Even the kids. It's sick," Alec said fiercely.  

Ragnor frowned. "It's more than experiments that they're doing, boy, although I must say that simply makes them more despicable. They have a reputation for shooting first and asking questions later, of seeing all non-humans as evil without consideration of individual behaviour. And perhaps you will find this ironic coming from me, but the worst of it is their _evangelism_. There is no other word for it - Valentine Morgenstern has a misguided notion that being a hunter is some sort of sacred duty that immediately qualifies them for Heaven. So the ultimate plan, as I understand it, is to start the Apocalypse - so that there can be paradise on earth. They come recruiting every now and then, and I always chase them off."

Alec looked at Ragnor in horror. When he'd heard Valentine Morgenstern talk about paradise on earth, he hadn't expected it to be _that_ literal. And there was no way in hell that Jonathan Morgenstern didn't know that this was his father's ultimate plan - not if he had grown up with this rhetoric. Alec was starting to wonder if Jonathan had injected himself with vampire blood on purpose, knowing that Izzy had the cure, and knowing that there was no way Jace and Izzy would let Alec run Jonathan off now and make him go solo while he was recovering from the after effects of his turning. Jonathan must have suspected that they were going to retrieve the book from the storage locker in Wisconsin. 

"There's a vamp nest not too far from here. You're a hunter, you must know about it," Alec said. "Why didn't you take them out?" 

Ragnor frowned at the sudden change in topic, but answered, "Because those vampires weren't hurting anyone. They feed on the livestock. Every hunter in this area knows that." 

"Shit," Alec cursed. "There's a member of the Circle with us, Valentine Morgenstern's son. I bet he's trying to steal the book and bring it back to his father so they can figure out a way to kickstart the Apocalypse. Plus I've got Magnus and his minions on my tail as well." 

"So you definitely have the book?" Ragnor said, sounding almost excited.

"Well, we think we know where it is," Alec said cautiously. 

"You'll have to deal with the Morgenstern boy on your own, but demons I can help you with," Ragnor said briskly, standing up and moving to rummage in one of his filing cabinets.

"You mean you have a way to kill them?" Alec asked. 

Ragnor shook his head. "Exorcising them is one thing, but there are few things that will kill a demon. If you had an ancient demon-killing knife of the Kurds, perhaps... But I can certainly give you tools to slow them down."

He set a book on the table in front of Alec. "Memorise these devil's traps. Any of these will trap a demon within its confines - the more elaborate the more powerful, of course. You can hide them under rugs and on the ceilings. I have one at every entrance of this church, for example. After you've trapped them, it'll be much easier to exorcise them." Alec nodded and took out his cellphone to snap a few pictures. 

"And take these too, for your siblings as well. Keep one on you at all times - they guard against demonic possession," Ragnor said, dumping a handful of trinkets on the table. 

Alec looked down at the little silver amulets. He'd seen the design before - inked low on Magnus' left hip. He'd remembered thinking that if their circumstances had been very different, if Magnus had been someone special, someone Alec could care about, that he would have liked to run his tongue over the tattoo, press kisses into it...

Ragnor must have caught the odd expression on his face. "Is something wrong?" 

Alec startled, flushing. "I was just thinking - how does this work? If it prevents demonic possession, and Magnus has this tattooed on him, now that he's a demon-"

"As I recall, Magnus didn't exactly have this tattooed in a place suitable for polite company," Ragnor said shrewdly. They glared at each other, Alec refusing to feel ashamed of his admittedly questionable life choices, and Ragnor broke eye contact first, closing his eyes and rubbing his temples. "Was it another thing he said _might_ get you off the hook?" 

"No, it wasn't like that. We... It was consensual. On both sides." 

Ragnor sighed. "It's not my place to judge. I only hope you realise that no matter how convincingly human Magnus may seem, he's a demon now."  

"I know he's a demon," Alec said quietly. "But it feels like there's something... _more_ to him."

"Don't be a fool, boy," Ragnor barked gruffly. "You don't sleep with demons, you try to kill them before they kill you."  

"Magnus was your best friend. You'd be ok with killing him - whatever is left of him?" Alec asked.

"All I know is that Magnus would have hated becoming a demon, and being turned into a crossroad demon, having to doom other people at their lowest to eternal damnation, would be a particular kind of hell for him," Ragnor said, sounding weary. "Promise me, if you get the chance, or you figure out how, you'll kill him. Set him free," Ragnor said grimly. "And I'll try my best to do right by my friend as well."


	11. Bad Seed

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _Swing the noose again_   
>  _Pierce the apple skin_   
>  _Yeah, you bit more than you need_   
>  _Now you're choking on the bad seed_
> 
> [_"Bad Seed", Metallica_ ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1rMfDcth0tY)

 

 

When Alec got back to the motel, it was already almost daybreak, and Izzy was waiting for him in his room, looking a bit frantic. Izzy and Jace were supposed to have taken turns watching Jonathan Morgenstern in the next room, leaving him to sleep since he was the designated driver, but he hadn't expected to be gone for so long. 

"Where did you go?!" she asked, brows furrowed with worry. "I called you half a dozen times!" 

"Sorry, my phone ran out of juice,” Alec apologised. He’d taken a lot more photos of various sigils and spell ingredients from Ragnor’s extensive collection of occult books. “I met another hunter when I went to get the grave dirt. He's the rector of the church," Alec explained, and dug out the handful of amulets Ragnor had given him. "Here, take one - it guards against demonic possession."

Izzy picked one up curiously. "I've never heard of anything like that, not even from Valentine's resources." 

"He's an expert on demonology. From England."

"Really?" Izzy asked excitedly. "But that's great! Why did you have to go and meet him in secret in the middle of the night?"

Alec hesitated. "Where's Jace?"

"Watching over Jonathan. He's asleep now, and seems to have recovered completely. No more fangs."

Alec went over to the next room to beckon Jace over, figuring this was a conversation they should have together. 

"The rector calls himself an academic of the occult, and he studied the copies of the book we're looking for. I think Jonathan got himself turned into a vampire on purpose because he wanted to have an excuse to hang around us, because he suspects we're going to retrieve the book," he said, and before his siblings could complain about him being paranoid about Jonathan Morgenstern again, he quickly added, "Did you know that the ultimate aim of the Circle is to bring about the Apocalypse?" Alec asked. 

Izzy looked skeptical. "The Apocalypse? You mean, like the one in the Bible - four horsemen riding, Judgement Day, Michael's final battle against Lucifer, that sort of Apocalypse?" 

"That sounds like something from one of those mad doomsayers on street corners with 'The End Is Nigh' cardboard signs," Jace said. 

"We fight ghosts and monsters on a daily basis," Alec pointed out.

"Yes, but... We've seen those things with our own eyes," Izzy said, then added a little more quietly, "And if what you say is true, then _angels_ exist. Where were they, then, when the demons came for our family? When they came for  _us_?"

Alec frowned and took a closer look at his sister. How had he failed to notice the dark rings under her eyes, the sharpness of her cheekbones? She'd lost weight in the months that they had been with Valentine, and Alec had been too preoccupied with the train wreck that was his own life to notice. 

"Izzy... " he opened and closed his mouth several times, not knowing what to say. Jace put his arm around their sister.  

"Bad things happen to good people. I know that," Izzy said softly. "That's just how it is. There's no rhyme or reason - just random, horrible, evil. But if there's something bigger out there that's supposed to be on the side of the good guys - angels, _God_ , even - why don't they help us?" 

Alec couldn't help agreeing with her. Even if their parents had been involved in some shady business, what had  _Max_ ever done to deserve this? People like them, like   _Magnus,_ who by Ragnor's account had dedicated his tragically short life to saving people. None of this was fair. 

There was a sharp rap on the door - all three of them tensed, then Jace got up quickly to peek through the windows, careful not to disturb the salt lines, then glanced back into the room. "It's Jonathan."

Alec gritted his teeth and nodded. It seemed that talking more about the Circle and the stuff he'd found out about the mysterious book might have to wait. Jace opened the door - Jonathan was standing in a patch of early morning sun, obviously cured, though he was looking a bit wane. 

"Hey man, how are you feeling?" Jace asked. 

"Good, considering," Jonathan replied with a quick smile, then turned to Alec. "I couldn't help overhearing your conversation-"

"Pretty sure you could," Alec said venomously.  

Jonathan took a deep breath. "I haven't been completely honest with you. I had selfish reasons for helping you free all the monsters - I needed the push to leave the Circle, and my dad."

"Why?" Izzy asked.

"This stuff you were talking about, the Circle wanting to bring about the end of the world - it's all true," Jonathan said bluntly.

"So you admit that you knew?" Alec asked.

"Of course I knew. How could I not?" Jonathan said quietly. "I only heard it from my father every day of my life, for as long as I can remember. He's my dad, but... he needs help. Medical help. There's been a lot of bitterness and disappointment in his life, and I think the last straw was my mother running off with his best friend when I was still a baby. And he can be a hard man. I... I just needed to get away from that."

"And you don't agree with it?" Alec challenged.  

"Of course I don't. Killing monsters is one thing - trying to bring about the end of the world is something else entirely," Jonathan replied. "Our job is to protect the innocent."

"And yet you hunted down a nest of vamps that weren't doing any harm to humans. Vamps that fed on livestock," Alec said coolly.  

He had to hand it to Jonathan - there was barely a flicker of surprise that Alec knew so much. He shrugged. "A monster is at heart still a monster. No matter how hard they try, they will show their true instincts eventually, and they'll kill again. It's simple."

"Nothing is ever simple," Alec said firmly. 

Jonathan held up his hands in a gesture of surrender. "We have different opinions - let's agree to disagree. I just need to rest up a bit, and I'll be on my way."

"We're not staying. We’ve got to leave for Winconsin today," Izzy said a little apologetically, and Alec found himself relieved that even if his siblings weren't entirely convinced of his suspicions, they were erring on the side of caution after that fiasco with Valentine. 

"Oh, of course," he nodded. "Don't worry about me. You've done plenty for me. I'll just stay here for another night and take it easy."

"That's what you said before you tried to clear out a vamp nest on your own," Jace scoffed. "Come along with us so we can look out for you until you get back on your feet."

...or maybe he'd been too optimistic about Jace learning caution.

"I'd like that, thanks," Jonathan replied, smiling widely at Jace.

Alec and Izzy both glared Jace when Jonathan’s back was turned, but he simply looked puzzled.

 

 

They made good time and reached Winconsin with plenty of daylight to spare. Alec was almost certain that Jonathan would find some excuse to tag along to the storage locker, but he didn't even seem curious about what they were doing, claiming that he was going to stay in the motel and rest. If anything, his behaviour made Alec all the more suspicious. Jonathan definitely had something up his sleeve, and Alec was determined to find out what. 

"I'm going leave you guys to sort this out, then double back to check on Jonathan," he told them as Jace fiddled with the rusty lock. 

"Alone? Alec, I don't think that's a good idea. Jonathan isn't one of the Circle's best for nothing," Izzy frowned. "He practically grew up wielding a sawed-off shotgun, not like us."

"Pretty sure I can handle one Jonathan Morgenstern," Alec said. "And if he has reinforcements, I won't engage, I promise." 

"I still think you guys are being paranoid," Jace grumbled, not in the best mood after being chewed out by his two siblings on the drive to the storage locker. "You heard what he said about Valentine not exactly being the world's greatest dad. And he’s a _friend_ – I mean, I’ve hung out with him a lot over the past few months, just shooting the breeze, watching football. He’s pretty alright."

"Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me," Izzy muttered.

The lock finally clicked open; Jace shoved the heavy door open with a grunt. They turned on their flashlights and shone them into the musty space - they saw wooden crates neatly stacked in threes, shelves filled with books and various knick knacks, a glint of metal from weapons hanging on racks. And symbols drawn on every wall, protective sigils and elaborate pentagrams that Alec now recognised as devil's traps. No wonder even a powerful Prince of Hell like Magnus hadn't been able to waltz right in here and take what he wanted.

"Shit," Jace muttered. "It'll take us at least a month to go through everything in here.”

Jace was the first one to step into the locker, his flashlight aimed into the darkest recesses of the room. Then Alec looked down, and saw a flash of metal right in front of Jace. 

“Look out!” he barked sharply, grabbing Jace and dragging him backwards - but he was a split second too slow. The loud crack of a gun going off reverberated in the enclosed locker, and Jace yelped and clutched his arm.

"What the fuck?!" 

"This place is bobby trapped," Izzy gasped. Her flashlight traced the path of the thin wire a foot off the floor, trailing up a shelf, to a hidden shotgun aimed at the entrance. 

"Are you alright?" Alec asked.

"Yeah, not to worry. Just a scratch. I was more surprised than anything," Jace said, removing his hand to show Alec the wound. 

"Right,” Alec frowned, feeling odd. The red of the blood was very stark against Jace's skin.

They disarmed the trap before venturing further into the storage locker cautiously, but found no other obvious bobby traps – or at least none of the physical kind, because Alec was pretty some of the things lying around were traps for supernatural beings. 

“The book was important, and valuable. They wouldn’t have left it lying around, so these shelves are out – right?” Jace said hopefully.

“Unless they were trying to hide it in plain sight,” Alec pointed out. “It might even be disguised, wrapped up…”

“Don’t make this more complicated than it already is,” Jace groaned.

“What are these?” Izzy asked, indicating an entire cupboard filled with boxes of different sizes and made from different materials – wood, metal, one box that Alec could have sworn was actually made of silver. There were symbols etched on the external surfaces of all the boxes, and all the boxes had been spaced out such that they didn’t come into contact with each other. 

“I think these are curse boxes,” Alec replied, recognising some of the symbols from Ragnor’s books. “These symbols are binding spells. The boxes are built to contain the power of a specific cursed object, to keep the evil in.”

“Or to keep the evil out,” Jace suggested.

“Some of these are big enough to hold a book. But it’d be pure stupidity to open any of these without knowing what’s in them,” Izzy said musingly.

“Well, our parents were big on inventory and ledgers, and they’d need a way to remember what’s in what. I bet there’s a book somewhere with everything listed in code or something,” Jace said. He looked around, and sighed. "Somewhere."

“Well, have fun. Keep me updated. I’m going to go find out what Jonathan is up to,” Alec said, and Izzy nodded distractedly, already starting on a dusty box filled with books. "Don't let Jace touch the rocket launcher, alright?" 

"Come on! I didn't say I was going to!" Jace protested.  

Alec rolled his eyes. He had seen Jace's gaze flicker to that particular item the moment he said he was going off. "You didn't have to."

"Ok, but I wasn't going to  _use_ it. I'm not that stupid."

Alec raised an eyebrow at Jace, conveying just how much he thought of that statement, then snickered and ducked when Jace threw a book at him.

"Bitch!" Jace called after him.

"Jerk," Alec retorted.

" _Idiots_ ," Alec heard Izzy say just before he shut the door of the storage locker behind him.

 

 

Alec checked his watch when he got in the car – the storage locker had been a 15-minute drive away from the motel, and they’d been in there for barely half an hour. He should probably give Jonathan a bit more of a headway before he tried to catch him in the act, which would also give Alec some time to do something… completely stupid and reckless.

Ever since he'd met Ragnor, he'd been thinking about all the things Ragnor had said about Magnus when he'd been alive and human, but also about Ragnor's warnings that Magnus as a demon was nothing like Magnus as a human. And what did that say about Alec that it didn’t seem to lessen his attraction to Magnus? He’d thought it was bad when they’d first met, and it had gotten worse after he had called on Magnus for help saving the kids, but now Magnus seemed to haunt his dreams – what little he had, considering he barely slept these days. The desire to talk to Magnus, to see Magnus again, was like a desperate craving. 

He needed a secluded place for his purposes, one where nobody would accidentally stumble upon him and throw him in an asylum for suspected attempts at devil worship. It took a while, but his phone pointed him to an abandoned factory not too far away. He made sure he hadn’t accidentally stumbled into the lair of some creature, then set up the space for his summoning – carefully drawing a devil’s trap first, because he wasn’t feeling _that_ reckless - before taking out the silver goblet Magnus had given him. 

It had been two days since he'd last summoned Magnus, but the cut in his palm had been deep and probably hadn't healed up completely. He unwrapped his injured hand and pressed hard at the wound until the blood burst through the scabbing, and let it drip into the goblet. 

" _Inferni clamavi ad te Magnus Bane sermonos meos_."

The blood in the goblet bubbled, but Magnus did not come. Alec frowned and spoke the incantation again - still no Magnus. Alec bit his lip, deep in thought - had something happened to Magnus?  

He decided to try the general summoning ritual instead, since that had also worked the first time. As soon as he finished the spell, a young man appeared in the middle of the devil's trap on the sigil. Alec barely had the time to get out of the confines of the devil's trap and out of his reach - he hadn't been expecting that, since that wasn't the way Magnus had appeared that one time he'd tried this.

"You're not Magnus Bane," he said with growing certainty. 

"No." The man tilted his head and smiled at him, and Alec shivered. Good job he'd thought of the devil's trap.

Alec had never actually met a demon other than Magnus, and he was surprised at the intensity of the revulsion he was feeling for this one. Somehow he didn't think it'd be a good idea to ask the demon to help him find Magnus. 

"Sorry, wrong number," he muttered. " _Regna terrae, cantate Deo_ -"

"Trying to get rid of me so soon?" the demon smiled. "I know who you are. You're the eldest Lightwood boy."

Alec stared, exorcism forgotten. What was he, Hell's most wanted? Why did everyone know who he was?

"And _you_ know Magnus Bane - which means he's been holding out on us," the demon tutted, his eyes wandering up and down Alec's body in a way that made his skin crawl. "Naughty, naughty." 

Before Alec could ask the demon what he'd meant by Magnus "holding out" on them, he was flying across the room. He slammed into the wall so hard that he thought he might have blacked out for at least a few seconds, and when he came to, the possessed man had been freed from the devil's trap - and there was a woman with him. She waved a hand, and Alec found himself pinned to the wall.  

"Two for the price of one summoning," the second demon smiled, and her eyes flashed completely black - no hint of white anywhere, just two soulless tunnels into the abyss. 

"What do you want with me?" Alec growled. 

"Tell us where Michael's sword is," said the first demon.

_What?_ Alec tried not to let the confusion show on his face. "And if I don't?"  

The second demon reached out to touch him, and he tried not to flinch away from the finger that she started running down his chest. "Then we'll kill you slowly, and painfully. Well, we're going to kill you painfully anyway, but if you tell us where the sword is, maybe we'll do it a little bit quicker."

"Bite me," Alec spat.  

"I wouldn't do that, darling. Demons can be quite literal, they might take you up on the offer."

Alec almost sagged with relief when he saw Magnus smirking at him from behind the two demons. They spun around snarling, but Magnus simply placed his hands on their foreheads, and Alec gasped when the demons seemed to light up from the inside with a hellish fire, then crumpled to the floor with their eyes burned out. 

Alec yelped in surprise when he was suddenly released from his bonds, but Magnus caught him before he could fall on his face, then quickly released him and took a step back.  

"How did you do that?" he asked Magnus.  

"One of the perks of being Hell's royalty - the power to smite little demons when they get on your nerves," Magnus shrugged. 

"What were they saying, about me having Michael's sword? Do you know anything about that?" 

"They were grunts, foot soldiers. They don't know anything except bits of gossip and misinformation." 

"They said you were keeping the fact that you'd found me a secret from the other demons. Have you... are you actually keeping other demons away from me?"

Magnus turned away. "Maybe I just don't like to share my toys."

Alec couldn't help feeling that Magnus seemed a bit cagey, keeping his distance from Alec. "I met Ragnor," Alec said quietly.

Magnus hummed non-committally. "I suppose it was only a matter of time, even if he and Catarina generally keep to themselves." 

"Catarina passed away a few months back. She was sick," Alec told him. "Ragnor said she died peaceful, though."

Magnus' face was carefully blank. "You seem to think I care about these people."

"Don't you? You gave your life for them." 

Magnus smiled sweetly. "Did you know, Alexander, that time passes differently in Hell than it does up here? By my count, I have spent two hundred years in the Pit. You can't expect me to care about people I barely remember."

"You keep saying that, but I don't believe you," Alec said. 

"Are you trying to make yourself feel less disgusted with yourself because you lusted after a demon? If there was some human left in me, maybe you could convince yourself that you could love me - is that it?" Magnus asked sardonically. "Maybe you could even redeem me - with the power of _love_."

"I can never love you. You killed my parents, and my brother," Alec said firmly.   

"You keep saying that, but I don't believe you," Magnus repeated his words back at him mockingly. "You're forgetting that I can read minds."

" _I don't_ ," Alec insisted angrily.

He stalked towards Magnus, who simply raised an eyebrow at him. "I fail to see how thinking about kissing me is supposed to convince me that you feel nothing for me," Magnus smirked.

"Fuck you," Alec growled.

He wasn't sure who moved forward first, him or Magnus, but he supposed it didn't matter when it ended with them moaning into each other's mouths, hands desperately grabbing at too many layers of clothes in the way as they kissed each other.

There was a rickety table in one corner, little more than a plank on a rusty metal frame - Alec hoisted Magnus up onto it, ignoring the way the weather-worn thing creaked alarmingly, breath hitching when Magnus parted his legs for him and wrapped them around his waist so that their growing erections were pressed up against each other. He felt Magnus' hands sliding down his chest, then moaned when Magnus started rubbing his nipples through the thin cotton of his shirt. Alec was going to crash and burn - he wanted that feeling of skin on skin again, the way it had been the night they'd had sex, but he'd settle for this, for now.  

Alec nosed his way down Magnus' jaw to his neck, then bit down hard, relishing Magnus' breathy gasp of pleasure, before laving his tongue over the pulse point. He could feel the blood thrumming in the veins right under Magnus' skin, so near yet so far. Magnus moaned and arched his body into Alec as he began to suck a bruise into the skin trapped between his teeth. He bit down harder, and Magnus cried out in obvious pain. 

“Sorry,” Alec murmured, pressing a gentle kiss on the hickey to sooth the hurt.

"You’re really not going to make this easy for me, are you?" Magnus whispered.

“Make what easy?” Alec asked, frowning.

Magnus ran a hand through his hair and tugged hard, forcing Alec to abandon the marks he was sucking into Magnus' skin, forcing him to look in Magnus' eyes.

Magnus didn't answer him; instead, he drew a nail over his wrist. What resulted was a surprisingly deep cut. Blood began to bead out of it, and Alec found himself licking his lips, unable to tear his eyes away from the thin line of red. He grabbed Magnus' wrist, brought it to his lips, and just before he closed his mouth over the wound, Magnus turned his face away, eyes shut, as if he couldn't bear to look. 

Their cocks were still pressed together, but Alec found that pleasurable as that was, he couldn't think of anything except the bittersweet taste of Magnus' blood blooming on his tongue. He was vaguely aware of his canines digging into Magnus' skin, and Magnus' breathing getting heavier as he drank and drank.

"Alexander, stop," Magnus panted. " _Stop!_ "

Alec pulled away from Magnus, dazed, and wiped his mouth. The smear of blood on the back of his hand stung his skin; his lips hurt, his throat hurt, and- oh god, what had he been doing? 

He spat, trying to get the taste of blood out of his mouth, then it all caught up with him and his stomach turned. He retched, trying to empty his stomach, but all he got was a throat full of bile. Alec looked up - Magnus was clutching his wrist, face pale, still perched on top the rickety table where Alec had put him. 

"What did you do to me?" Alec whispered in horror.

And the worst of it was, he could see the same horror reflected in Magnus' face - at least for a few seconds, before Magnus disappeared.


	12. I Gotta Get Outta Here

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _I don't know why I'm here, why I've fallen from grace_   
>  _I can't explain the burns or the scars on my face_   
>  _Somebody please wake me up and get me outta this place_
> 
> [_"I Gotta Get Outta Here", Alice Cooper_ ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ru8W7YB9I4&t=52s)

 

 

Alec went through the motions of erasing the traces that he'd been at the abandoned factory in a sort of daze. He didn't want to think about why his lips and throat were hurting, or why his hands were shaking like he had just downed about fifty espressos in one go. He didn't want to think about what an idiot he'd been to develop feelings for a demon, or about how much of what he thought he felt for Magnus was because there was dark magic in Magnus' blood. The worst of it was that he could feel the effects of all the blood he'd just drunk, simmering in his veins and just under his skin like static electricity - it was making him feel a bit like he could run miles without breaking a sweat, or break someone's arm with no effort at all. 

The summoning circle he decided to erase, but the broken devil's trap (the paint at the edge of it scratched off, which was probably how the second demon had freed the first one) he left intact. Which left him with the two corpses with the burnt-out eyes, which he wished he could do something about - let their families know what had happened to them, at least. But he had his own family to take care off, so he regretfully left them where they were, promising himself to leave an anonymous tip for the police once he had gotten Izzy and Jace safely away.

He drove back to the storage locker at well over the speed limit, hoping that all the protections their parents had put in place would be enough to keep Magnus away from them - and stopped short when he saw from a distance that the heavy metal door had been ripped off entirely. He approached cautiously, all his senses jangling. 

"Izzy? Jace?" he called out, not expecting an answer, and certainly receiving none.

The interior of the storage locker was a mess, everything torn up and ransacked, the shelves of books all conspicuously swept clean. There were obvious signs of a struggle, some blood smeared here and there. He didn't need to wonder who was behind this - all the devil's traps and protective sigils were still intact, and the dust had been disturbed by many boot prints, same M.O. as when Hodge had been taken.  

He'd failed Izzy and Jace again - just because he'd gotten distracted by Magnus. If he'd gone straight to check on Jonathan like he'd said he would, this wouldn't have happened.

He took out his phone, cursing when he almost dropped it because his hands were shaking so badly - no missed calls or messages, but that was to be expected. Trying to ignore his racing heart and the panic threatening to overwhelm him, because he was going to be of no use to them if he was a mess, Alec opened the app to check the GPS tracking on Izzy's phone, and was already walking out of the storage locker when something in the corner of the room struck him as being out of place. He doubled back, glancing around the room to see if any other weapons had been misplaced or shifted around, and while the smaller weapons like handguns and knives had certainly all been taken, it appeared that the larger weapons had all been left alone - except for the rocket launcher, currently sitting in an odd corner of the room, and definitely not where it had been before Alec had left. 

Acting on a hunch, Alec took the weapon apart - there was a stack of incredibly ancient parchment rolled up inside where the rocket should have been, and an odd serrated knife decorated with strange symbols was nestled in the middle of the parchment. Alec snorted a laugh despite everything - trust his siblings to come up with this hiding place. It appeared that Izzy and Jace had found the Book of Soyga, after all.

Then a message chimed on his phone, from Izzy's number, and what little amusement died on Alec's face. It simply said: _Bring the book. You know where to find us._

  

 

Alec reached the vicinity of the headquarters of the Circle in the middle of the day. He debated waiting until the wee hours of the morning to attempt to sneak in to rescue his siblings, but did it really matter when he went in, since they were obviously expecting him?  

In the end he opted to walk straight up to the front gate, hands held up to show that he wasn’t armed, and allowed the guards to frogmarch him into the building that had once been the horrific prison for all the supernatural creatures. But instead of bringing him to the basement, they brought him upstairs, where a number of the hunters were gathered in what might once have been a mess hall. Valentine and Jonathan Morgenstern had their heads bent over a long table, discussing something or other, and straightened up when Alec was brought in, then released by the two guards.  

"You came empty handed," Jonathan frowned.  

"Obviously. I'm not that stupid," Alec replied grimly. "Where are Izzy and Jace?"  

Just then, he saw his siblings being brought in - both were a little bit banged up, Jace more so than Izzy, but it didn't look like anything serious. They stared at him, wide-eyed, but he didn't dare to try to communicate with them with all the eyes in the room on them. 

"Let them go first," Alec demanded. 

"Not both, but you can pick one - as a gesture of good faith," Jonathan replied with a nasty smile. 

"Izzy," Alec and Jace said at the same time, ignoring Izzy's firm declaration of "Jace."

Jonathan's smile grew wider. "Let Jace go."

"You-" Jace started indignantly, only to get a hard cuff on his head before his bonds were cut and he was sent sprawling to Alec. 

Alec couldn't help noticing that he was holding one side of his body oddly. "You ok?" Alec whispered to his brother.  

"Dislocated my shoulder," Jace explained, wincing a little as he straightened up. 

"Now talk. Where is the book?" Jonathan asked. 

"I put it in a curse box and hid it not far from here," Alec lied, having actually left the book and knife with Ragnor for safekeeping. 

Alec gave them the directions to where he'd buried a phone directory wrapped up in the cover of the Book of Soyga, and Jonathan took a couple of men to dig it up. They were still outnumbered - six men, including Valentine, to the three of them - but Alec hoped that every person out of the way was going to be to their advantage. Besides, some of the hunters in the room were looking a little worse for wear too, likely from fighting the creatures his siblings and Jonathan had released.  

"Did you know that we lost three good men when your siblings released all the monsters?" Valentine asked Alec. 

"Your son had a hand in that," Alec pointed out.  

"Jonathan was impulsive, it's true. But he thought it was for the greater good, so that he could gain your trust," Valentine said. "And although Isabelle here was an incredible help developing the cures and weapons for us, I think it's not wrong of me to assume that she isn't going to help us anymore, is it?"  

"Never again," Izzy spat out.  

"Then the three of you will never be more than a thorn in my side - constantly trying to undermine the work of the Circle," Valentine observed. 

"So, what - you're going to kill us?" Jace growled. 

"I hate having to shed blood - especially hunters' blood," Valentine said. "But sometimes it's a necessity."

"But Val - the book," one of the Pangborn brothers standing next to Valentine interrupted. "What if the boy was lying about where he hid the book?" 

"Oh, I know he was lying," Valentine smiled coldly. "But I had to get Jonathan out of the way, otherwise he would protest if I started breaking Isabelle's fingers to get her brother to talk."

Alec clenched his fist, forcing himself to hold still. Izzy caught his eye and gave him the tiniest nod.

"I greatly regret this - your parents were my friends, a long time ago," Valentine said, then suddenly turned and aimed a shot at Alec's kneecap. 

Alec threw himself out of the way in the nick of time, skidding across the floor then scrambling to his feet to tackle the next nearest hunter for his weapon. Jace punched the guy who had been sneaking up behind him and tried to wrestle his shotgun from him, and Izzy stomped on the toes of the woman holding her before jerking away and running towards her brothers. 

The room had become a chaos of ricocheting bullets and people yelling. The Lightwoods had managed to knock out two hunters, and a third had been taken down by friendly fire, but Jace was looking distinctly winded and obviously in great pain from his injury. But Alec was so busy trying to avoid getting hit by Valentine, he didn't have a chance to get to his siblings. 

Then the steady stream of gunfire that had been focused on him suddenly stopped - Alec risked a peek from behind the table he was using for cover, and saw that Valentine had his gun trained in the direction of Izzy and Jace, and that they hadn't noticed it, wouldn't be able to avoid it in time... 

He threw out a hand just as the gun went off, and felt a burst of the power that had been thrumming in his veins surge out. There was a look of utter confusion on Valentine's face when nothing happened to Izzy or Jace. Alec couldn't see it, but he could feel it; the bullet frozen in its trajectory in the air somewhere in between his siblings and the gun, the invisible line from it that led back to him. He took a sharp breath in and dropped his hand, and felt the connection snap - and the tiny piece of metal was lost to his senses.

He was suddenly aware of the silence in the room.

Alec looked around - the nearest hunter must have seen him raise his hand when Valentine fired the shot, and was staring at him, slack-jawed. Izzy, Jace and the hunter they had been fighting had turned towards the sound of the gun going off, and were looking very confused. And Valentine was looking at him with a growing revulsion and hatred.

"You... my son told me that you set the monster spawn free, all on your own, and I knew then that I had been right in my gut, that there was something wrong with you. Your parents and your brother's unnatural deaths, demons on your tail, now this. You can do things that normal humans can't do. Are you even human?" Valentine said, raising his gun.  

_It's not me_ , Alec wanted to say. It was Magnus' blood - demon blood. But then again what kind of person went around sleeping with the demon that had murdered their whole family, and drinking his blood? 

"You're no better than the filthy monsters we hunt," Valentine said, and pulled the trigger.

Despite his misgivings, Alec didn't hesitate in throwing his hand out again to freeze the bullet, but this time he didn't stop there. Valentine said that he was no better than the monsters they hunted, but Alec disagreed. It wasn't him who had been imprisoning supernatural creatures to experiment on, wasn't him who wanted to bring about the end of days just because he was deluded into thinking he was some kind of heavenly warrior. He wasn't the one who'd talked about breaking Izzy's fingers like it was nothing. Alec concentrated, and _pushed_.

The bullet slammed backwards, veering slightly off its initial trajectory, and punched a hole in Valentine's chest. 

Valentine's face was frozen in an expression of shock, and the other hunters were going towards him and looking at Alec like he was the devil himself, but Alec wasn't really paying attention to them. The second time had been so much easier, and there was a heady kind of feeling coming over him that drowned out the horror at where this power was really coming from. 

"Alec, we have to go." 

Suddenly Izzy was there, a hand on his outstretched arm, and Alec snapped out of his daze. He took one look at her pinched look, glanced up to where Jace was leaning against a wall, and nodded shakily.

They managed to make it all the way out to the car unmolested, and Alec was racing down the road before any of the hunters even managed to make it out of the building after them. 

"Back there, what you did - what the hell was that?" Jace demanded. 

Alec's hands on the steering wheel tightened. "Can we not have this conversation when I'm driving at almost double the speed limit?!" 

"Ok, we'll talk when we get to somewhere safe," Izzy said placatingly. "But where are we going?"

 

 

Ragnor was understandably annoyed at having all of them crash into his quiet life without warning, but took one look at the state they were in and waved them in. 

"Ragnor, I need a locked, secure room. And nobody's allowed to let me out, no matter what I say, until I'm better," Alec said firmly. 

Ragnor frowned at him. "What did you do now?" 

"Magnus. He... I drank his blood. Accidentally, the first time, then... more, recently," Alec said quietly, and Ragnor sighed loudly.

"Who's Magnus?" Izzy demanded. 

"So what, you're a vampire now?" Jace asked in confusion.

"Both of you - shut up," Ragnor said tiredly. "I'll explain it to you later. As for you, I have a panic room in the basement of the church where the crypt used to be." 

Ragnor locked Alec up with enough food and water for a few days, and he was pretty alright for the first day or two, managing to converse through the door to find out how Jace and Izzy were doing - until the aches started setting in. His head hurt all the time, and his throat felt parched no matter how much water he drank. Ragnor had provided him with several blankets, but he was always cold, always shivering. And it only seemed to get worse after that, the time going past in such a haze of misery and desperation that Alec stopped eating and drinking, lost in hallucinations about dead people and monsters and Magnus, always Magnus, taunting him or cajoling him while perfectly put together, but sometimes just standing in front of him with sorrow in his eyes and his flesh peeling from his bone.

The day he actually felt well enough to stomach a power bar, Ragnor decided that it would probably be ok for him to leave the panic room, provided he was always accompanied by someone, and he didn't leave the confines of the church.

"I'll have to warn you - your siblings, especially your sister, are on the war path," Ragnor told him. "I didn't tell them about the deal, only a little about Magnus to help them understand, but... well, you'll see." 

With that to look forward to, Alec showered and got dressed as slowly as he could before heading to the living room of the rectory, where his siblings had been camping out for a week.  

"Hey," Jace greeted him dully, and Alec couldn't help noticing that Jace couldn't meet his eyes. Izzy was furiously tapping at something on her laptop, her eyes red and swollen half-shut from crying, and didn't even look up. 

"How's the shoulder?" 

"Mending. I'll liv-" Jace shut his mouth with a snap. 

Alec frowned, gingerly sitting down on the free armchair, but he'd barely settled down when Izzy stood up and practically flung her laptop at him.

"We started Googling 'Magnus Bane' when Ragnor told us the name, and the only hit was a webcomic published by Clary and Simon," Izzy said without preamble. "You may remember them - we rescued them from the haunted hospital a few months back." 

"Oh," Alec muttered, finally registering why the names had sounded a little familiar.

"Why don't you take a look at the webcomic? You may find it rather interesting," Izzy said, her tone icy. 

Alec frowned and flipped open Izzy's laptop. There was a full-colour drawing of a man crouched down in the rain, burying something in the ground - in the middle of a crossroads. And across the top of the drawing, emblazoned in a bold font, was the title: "Volume One - Alec Lightwood sells his soul."

 

 


	13. Thunderstruck

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _Broke all the rules_   
>  _Played all the fools_   
>  _Yeah, yeah, they blew our minds_   
>  _And I was shaking at the knees_
> 
> [_"Thunderstruck", AC/DC_ ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2AC41dglnM)

 

"And don't you try to tell us it's just the product of someone's imagination, or it's just a coincidence, because there's stuff in there - about Mum and Dad and Max. I never told Clary any of that, and Jace didn't tell Simon," Izzy said, her voice cracking. "We didn't even tell them our real last name."

"Volume One ends at the point Magnus Bane told you where to find Hodge, by the way. So there's plenty of stuff in there that we know matches up, like the demons in the motel," Jace said quietly.

Alec had to admit he was pretty relieved that the comic hadn't gone beyond that. He took a deep breath, and closed the laptop. "I'd do it all over again."

"And that's the problem!" Izzy seethed. "How did you expect us to feel when we found out?" 

"You weren't supposed to," Alec said wearily. 

"Well, too bad for you, then," Izzy snapped, tears running down her face.

Alec sighed and stood up to put his arms around her. "Hey. It's alright."

"No, it's _not_ alright," Izzy sobbed into his shirt. "You shouldn't have done that. How could you do that?"

"Don't be mad at me. I had to," Alec said, rubbing soothing circles on her back. 

"You should have let us go," Izzy whispered, and Alec mentally recoiled from even having to face that - a world without his siblings. _Just poor little Alexander, alone against the big bad world,_ Magnus had said, and god it sucked that Magnus was the one person who would have completely understood how that felt.

"Maybe I should have, but I was selfish. So this is on me, not on you," Alec told her softly. 

"Look, Alec. I know you - you're always the man with the plan. Please tell us you weren't just going to sit on your ass for a year and wait for the hellhounds to come," Jace said a little desperately. "And I mean like, an actual plan. Not the 'how about I sell my body to the night in exchange' plan."

"The book," Izzy said suddenly, letting go of Alec. "We have the book now, Ragnor confirmed that it's the real deal. The demon said-" 

"No, Izzy. Ragnor must have told you guys what that book can do. If it's a choice between starting the Apocalypse and me going to Hell, it's no choice at all," Alec said firmly.

"If we kill the demon, is the deal off, right?" Jace asked. 

"Yeah, that was my initial plan, except it turns out demons can't be killed," Alec shrugged. "Or at least we don't have anything that would work on them."

"But we do now!" Izzy exclaimed. "We found a weird knife in the locker - the one we hid with the book. And Ragnor identified it as a demon-killing knife made by the Kurds."

"So all we gotta do is summon the demon, and stab him," Jace said, warming up to the idea.

"Woah, hold up. I don't think it's that simple, ok?" Alec said quickly. "Magnus isn't just any run-of-the-mill demon. He's really powerful, a Prince of Hell. I saw him smite two demons with his bare hands. What if the knife doesn't work on him?"

"Yeah, we know he can do that, it was in the comic," Jace said. "That's what he did to the two demons that possessed Izzy and I, once they got back to him. Gotta admit, it looked pretty badass."

"Wait - there's more to this, isn't there?" Izzy asked. "You said you _saw_ him do the smiting. And you made Ragnor lock you up in the panic room because you said you'd drunk Magnus' blood?"

"Oh yeah," Jace agreed, remembering. "Is that why you could do that telekinesis thing? With the bullets?" 

Alec's disgust at himself came back in full force, but he supposed his siblings deserved to know the truth. He slouched back down into the armchair. "I know I said I was going to check on Jonathan when I left you guys in the storage locker. But I got sidetracked," he admitted, shame-faced. "I tried to summon Magnus, but got a bunch of random demons instead. He rescued me, we... he fed me his blood, and disappeared."

"Why would you summon him in the first place?" Jace asked, bewildered. 

"I... I don't know. I think there's something in his blood. It's addictive. The first time was an accident, but the second time... I couldn't stop myself. You have no idea how it feels," Alec swallowed hard at the memory, idly pressing his healing palm. "Like I could do anything. With that kind of power at my fingertips, the two of you would never have to be in danger again." 

"But you're feeling ok now?" Izzy asked cautiously. 

"No idea," Alec admitted. "Maybe once he shows up I'll be jonesing for a fix again." 

"Ok, but how do you _accidentally_ drink someone's blood?" Jace asked. 

Alec ran his uninjured hand through his hair awkwardly, and Izzy caught on immediately. "The one-night stand you had, the night we set all the creatures in the Circle's prisons free," Izzy guessed. 

"Oh yeah. That looked like a wild night," Jace snorted. "Shit, bro. You sure know how to pick 'em."

Alec was waiting for revulsion from his siblings, but neither seemed particularly shocked by the information that he'd slept with a demon. Instead, Izzy looked sympathetic. "We get it. There's a sort of... connection between the two of you. He feels it too, apparently," she said gently, perching herself on the arm of his chair. 

Alec snorted. "And you're basing this off what, a comic written by a couple of nerds? He killed our parents, and Max." 

"Not according to the comic," she said. 

"When you first met, and you told him the name 'Lightwood', there's an internal monologue thing after that where he remembers that his 'infernal father' killed them. Apparently they have the same eyes," Jace supplied.  

"According to a comic written by a couple of nerds," Alec repeated. "Look, I can accept that maybe one or both of them are psychic or something, and they just happened to have visions or dreams of certain events. But you can't expect me to believe they have an insight into the mind of a powerful demon."  

"Ragnor seems to think they've got a pretty good read on the way his best friend's mind works," Izzy said.

A window into Magnus' mind? It would have taken a better man than him to resist reading on.

Izzy handed him the laptop wordlessly, and he opened it with a sigh, determined to be skeptical about the whole thing. Except that his conversation with Magnus had been reproduced word for word, as far as he could tell, and he had to try not to blush at the, um, artistic rendition of him making out with Magnus against a tree. He flipped through the pages quickly after that, skipping through the stuff he'd already lived through, and sure enough there was an "internal monologue" section like Jace had mentioned after his deal with Magnus had been concluded. It wasn't quite what he'd been hoping for. On one hand, Magnus admitted to being extraordinarily drawn to him, but he also seemed to think of Alec as something he could use, a means to an end. And then there was that phrase again - "Michael's sword". The demons Magnus had killed had mentioned that too, and Magnus had pretended that he didn't know what they were talking about. 

"What does he mean, _I'm_ Michael's sword?" Alec muttered. 

"No idea. Izzy and I were thinking of paying Clary and Simon a visit," Jace said. 

Izzy nodded. "After all, if we're going to beat Magnus Bane and get him to call off his claim on your soul, we're going to need every bit of information about him. And I'd bet there's stuff that they already know about that hasn't been drawn or published yet."

"You well enough to come with us?" Jace asked.

Alec nodded, determined.

"We'll get you out of this, big brother," Izzy promised him. "All your life you've always put us first, taken care of us. Now it's our turn to look out for you for a change."

 

 

Izzy said Clary was an artist, so they tried her house first, but no one was at home. Simon was, though - in fact, he was the one who answered the door, wearing a t-shirt that proclaimed 'You are entering the Twilight Zone'. 

"Hey! Wow. Um, I didn't think we'd ever meet again," he greeted them in surprise, then immediately looked wary. "Wait. My house isn't haunted or something, right?" 

"No, no. Nothing like that. We were just in the area and thought we'd pop by," Jace said with his best charming grin. "May we come in?" 

"Sure. Clary will be bummed that she missed you, she's on a road trip with her Mum before term starts in September," Simon said, letting them in readily. 

He got them all sodas, and Alec couldn't help feeling like Simon was skirting around him, like he was afraid of him. "How's the ghostbusting business going lately?" he asked them brightly as he settled down at the seat furthest away from Alec. "I've gotta admit, watching horror movies used to be a fun thing Clary and I used to do together, but recently it's kind of lost its... uh." 

Simon was staring at Alec's bandaged hand, looking really unnerved. 

"So, uh, I bet you guys get injured a lot, huh?" he said, voice going a little squeaky. "All that grave desecration and firing guns. Super easy to slice your palm open like that-" 

"We found the webcomic," Alec said bluntly, deciding to cut to the chase. "How are you doing it? How do you know so much?" 

"Oh my god. I’ve been dreaming about you for months," Simon exclaimed, and Jace frowned. "Not in that way," Simon quickly assured Jace. "And to be honest, at first I wondered why I was dreaming about him, instead of you." Jace looked mollified, and Alec rolled his eyes. 

“When did the dreams start?” Izzy pressed.

“Uh… the night we met, actually. After Jace sent me home, and I went to bed - that was the first dream, the crossroads deal.”

"So Clary has nothing to do with it?" Izzy asked.

"I write, she draws. Although I think she's getting pretty annoyed with me saying things like 'his nose doesn't look like _that_ '," Simon joked. "Creative writing has never been my thing, you know, but I just kept having these dreams, these ideas, and this feeling that I _had_ to write them down."

"So that's all? You have a dream, and you write it down?" Alec frowned. 

"Uh usually there's a really horrible headache before, if it's a night that I'm dreaming about Magnus," Simon said, then a strange expression came over his face. "Wait - so Magnus is real too? _Demons_ are real? I thought you guys only hunted ghosts!" 

"Yeah, there's more out there. Vampires, werewolves, witches, they're all real," Jace said.

"And your job is to kill them?" Simon looked torn between wanting to run away screaming in terror and geeking out. 

"But why Magnus Bane?" Izzy frowned, chewing on a nail. "Why are your dreams focussed on him?" 

"Exactly. Why aren't you dreaming about the heroes - like us?" Jace said with a slightly cocky smirk at Simon.

Simon shook his head vehemently. "No, Magnus Bane is one of the good guys! Sort of. I mean, in my story at least. Maybe more of an anti-hero - a demon trying to stop the Apocalypse."

Izzy raised an eyebrow. "One of the good guys?"

"Yeah. There's this group of humans trying to bring about the Apocalypse, and all the forces of Heaven and Hell are trying make it happen as well, but Magnus Bane, Prince of Hell, is the only one standing in their way. Cool, right? I haven't figured out all of it yet, but-" 

"Wait. What do you mean he's trying to stop the Apocalypse? How?" Alec interrupted. 

Simon jumped, as if he was shocked to find Alec there. "Oh fuck. I keep forgetting this isn't just a story in my head."  

"It's ok, walk us through this slowly, a step at a time," Izzy said encouragingly. "We've read everything that has already been posted online, so we're all caught up until there, at least."  

Simon looked delighted. "Really? Clary's drawing is amazing, isn't it? We don't have a big readership, exactly, but we've had some pretty enthusiastic-" 

"You said in the comic that Magnus recognised me as Michael's sword," Alec interrupted. "Do you have any idea what he meant by that?" 

Simon blinked. "Oh, it's just a cryptic way of saying that you're supposed to be the earthly vessel of the Archangel Michael."

Alec, Izzy and Jace stared at Simon.

"Come again?" Jace finally said.

"The thing is, angels can't walk around in their true forms, they need to share the body of a willing human host. They need explicit consent to possess their vessels, and they can't just use any person - there are, like, special bloodlines. And you just happened to come along, wanting to sell your soul in exchange for a favour. So Magnus figured that if he could claim your soul before they freed Lucifer, you'd be, well, dead. And Michael wouldn't be able to get your permission because you'd be in Hell, and Magnus would have control over your soul."

"Therefore, no Apocalypse," Izzy murmured. 

"Yeah. Or delayed, at least for another few decades until another suitable vessel came along," Simon nodded. "But then you went and bit him when you guys were having sex - which was a really fucking weird dream, by the way, I did _not_ need to see you guys full frontal - and he didn't want to at first, but he realised that if you drank enough demon blood, the vessel would be corrupted, and Michael definitely wouldn't be able to use it. Clary's only halfway through drawing it, but there's this whole emotional plotline in Volume Two - how he's starting to care for the guy he was supposed to corrupt, and-" Simon shut up abruptly when he caught sight of the look on Alec's face. 

"What is Magnus' next move?" Alec finally asked, fighting to keep his voice even. 

Simon adjusted his glasses nervously. "Um. He's kind of given up on the corrupting-you angle. He's going to try to kill Lucifer's vessel - or I assume he hasn't done it yet, I have no idea how real-time my dreams are."

"Slightly ahead of real-time, if how it went with the crossroads deal is anything to go by," Izzy said.

"Ok, great! So the demon is off our backs, at least for now, right?" Jace said. "We have like, seven months to figure out how to get Alec out of the deal."

Simon opened his mouth, probably to tell him exactly how many months Alec did have left, but shut up when Alec shot him a warning glare. Unfortunately, Izzy caught the movement and turned to look at Simon expectantly. "You were about to say?" 

"Uh. It's just that... Lucifer's vessel is just a kid. He can't be more than 12 years old," Simon said. 

"Fuck. Now we're going to have to save this kid as well, aren't we?" Jace muttered.

"Do you have any idea where this boy lives?" Izzy asked, brows furrowed in concern.

Simon shrugged. "I'm not sure. Haven't seen that far yet. But I know his name is Max."

 


	14. Damaged Soul

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _Born in a graveyard adopted by sin_   
>  _I cultivate evil that's living within_   
>  _A preacher tried saving my black damaged soul_   
>  _Possessed by a demon that had full control_
> 
> [_"Damaged Soul", Black Sabbath_ ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqeKTbC1mqc)

 

Alec felt like the air had been knocked out of his lungs, the shock on his siblings' faces surely echoed on his.  

"Max is a pretty common name, right?" Jace said, looking from Alec to Izzy, as if hoping they weren't all experiencing that same dreadful sinking feeling. "It can't be..." 

"Can't be what?" Simon asked, clearly bewildered by their reaction.

"Our baby brother's name was Max," Izzy said, voice shaky.

"Oh crap. I didn't make that connection," Simon said with dawning horror. "And the bloodlines - Michael and Lucifer were brothers. So it makes sense that..."

"...their vessels would also be linked by blood," Alec finished for him. It would certainly explain why they hadn't had a body to bury. But if their baby brother had been kidnapped and held somewhere by a demon for over a year, god knows what had been done to him. 

"And Magnus is going to kill him," Izzy said, looking like she was going to bolt out of her seat. "We can't take that risk - even if it really isn't our Max, or they've done something to Max." 

"So what do we do now? How much time do we have to stop Magnus?" Jace asked.

"I'm going to call Ragnor," Izzy declared, tapping furiously on her phone. 

Simon and Jace had a whispered conversation while Izzy explained everything to Ragnor, and after a while she hung up and got to her feet. "Ragnor is meeting us halfway, a few hours drive from here. He's bringing a few things, and we have a list of things to pick up as well." 

"Gotta admit, I'm kind of relieved that you're going to try and stop Magnus. It's weird to think that he's a real person and not just a character I dreamt up, but I've kinda gotten attached to the guy. And I got the feeling Magnus doesn't expect to survive this, even if he succeeds," Simon said, and Alec tried to ignore the pang of hurt that went through his chest at that. 

Jace and Izzy said their goodbyes, promising to keep in touch with Simon. But when they were already out of the door, Simon tapped Alec on the shoulder.

"Hey," he said, nervous but determined. "I've got to talk to you about Magnus."

Alec rolled his eyes and started walking out anyway.

"I know it's none of my business. But you unlocked something in him, man. Something he thought he'd forgotten. I just wanted you to know that."

"You're right - it's none of your business," Alec replied sharply.

"Alec! Bro, we're kinda in a hurry," Jace called from the car. 

Alec scowled at Simon. "And by the way, if you and Clary publish any more of the webcomics, remember that I know where you guys live, and I've got a gun." 

"Yeah, and bullets filled with rock salt," Simon pointed out bravely.

"You'll be surprised how much they hurt," Alec snapped before he headed out to the waiting car.

  

 

"The salt I get, but why exactly does Ragnor need blacklight paint?" Jace asked, hauling their shopping bags out of the backseat as they made their way to the dilapidated house Ragnor had directed them to.  

Izzy shrugged, tapping away at her phone again. "He said we were to use the paint to draw this devil's trap on the ceiling above the summoning circle." 

Alec frowned. "It's not going to work on Magnus, you know. Whenever I summon him, he never appears within the summoning circle."

Jace snorted. "Yeah, that's because he's been intercepting your summons, dude. You try to summon a demon, he snuffs out anything demonic within a mile radius before he turns up. That's what Simon said, anyway." 

"What? When did he tell you that?" Alec scowled. 

"Who do you think I've been texting the whole way here? It's a lucky break that we had an excuse for us to meet again, I lost his number when the demons smashed up our phones the other time," Jace grinned. "By the way, Simon also told me you threatened to shoot him with rock salt if they published more of the comics, and I promised him I'll punch you if you try to do that."

"Whose side are you on?" Alec grumbled. 

"I mean, I get where you're coming from, but we don't shoot people with rock salt!"

"Do I need to remind you that you're the one who shot me with rock salt when we were just starting out, just to see what would happen?" Alec scowled. 

"And I said I was sorry! I didn't think it would bruise that badly!"

" _Boys_ ," Izzy snapped in exasperation. 

She and Jace split the job of putting salt lines on the thresholds of all the doors and windows leading outside, leaving the drawing of the devil's trap to Alec. Alec wondered how Ragnor knew of this place at all - it hadn't been lived in for many years, but quite a bit of the furniture had been left behind, especially the bulkier pieces. A large tree had fallen on the house at some point, causing part of the roof to cave in and the second storey to sag. The damp had turned the wallpaper green, but the cheap linoleum flooring was surprisingly still intact. Alec had to scrape the peeling paint off the ceiling before he could draw the devil's trap. He was halfway through, perched precariously on a rotting wooden desk, when Ragnor came in with a couple of blacklight lanterns.  

"I have a gallon jug in my car boot - help me get that out too, and fill it up from the tap round the back," he told Jace and Izzy as they walked in. He looked up at Alec's handiwork. "And after you're done with that, draw another one on the ceiling near the main door." 

"What's the plan?" Alec asked. 

"We're going to seal off all the entrances before we summon Magnus. Assuming he answers the summons, even if he doesn't turn up in the circle like he's supposed to, he will have to come through the main door, and hopefully we can trap him. I've given some of the usual summoning rituals a bit of a tweak, hopefully that will work..."

"Uh. I have a way to summon him specifically," Alec admitted. "But what happens after we get him in a devil's trap? We can't leave him here indefinitely."

Ragnor narrowed his eyes at Alec, but elected to fill out the rest of the plan first. "That's where the holy water comes in - or at least it'll be holy water after I've blessed it. You three will distract him with that, and I'll get these handcuffs on him - I've engraved devil's traps on them. So hopefully after we've got them on we can safely transport him back to my place."

"Are you sure those cuffs are going to work?" Jace asked doubtfully. 

Ragnor shot a withering look at him. "If you're scared, boy, there's still plenty of time to get out of here."

" _Scared_?! Me?!" Jace sputtered. 

Ragnor turned his attention to Alec. "Now, what's this about a way to summon Magnus?" 

It took them another couple of hours to prepare the whole place and get into position. Alec unwrapped his injured hand - it was mostly healed up now, but it didn't make sense to make a new cut somewhere else. He'd just sliced open his palm and started dripping the blood into the silver goblet when Jace's phone went off. 

Jace answered his phone, despite his siblings' protests. "Simon, now's not really a good time-" Jace began, then quietened down to listen to whatever Simon had to say. Then he nodded absently and hung up. "Ok, change of plans, guys. Simon had another vision." 

"Of us trying to capture Magnus?" Izzy asked worriedly.  

"The salt lines and devil's traps aren't going to work on Magnus, and Simon says that Alec should tell us something he has not told us, although I'm not sure what he means by that. Also, uh, it's a _really_ bad idea for Ragnor to be the one to try to get those cuffs on Magnus," Jace said while attempting to hint heavily at something with his eyebrows. 

"What?" Alec and Izzy asked in confusion.

Jace threw his hands up in exasperation. "He dies, ok? He saw Ragnor die."

Alec had his hand cradled towards his body to avoid dripping any more blood in the goblet, mind racing. "Then it has to be me. Give me the cuffs." 

"No!" Izzy protested.

"Look, we can't let Magnus hurt Ragnor, ok? Ragnor is his best friend. It will kill whatever human is left in him," Alec snapped.  

"Your concern for my well-being is very moving," Ragnor said wryly.

"You know what I mean," Alec said impatiently. "We told you what Simon said, about how Magnus is going to be the one to save the world. He needs you." 

"And what about you? You really think he won't hurt you, because he has feelings for you?" Jace frowned. 

Alec shrugged. "He kills me, the Apocalypse gets delayed and he doesn't need to kill Max anymore. Win-win."

"You can't be serious?!" Izzy said, aghast.

"Look, I'm a dead man walking," Alec said calmly. "And if what Simon says is true, then there's a bigger picture."

"So that's it? You're just going to roll over and give up?" Jace demanded. 

"No, of course not. We still need to get to Max. I'm just saying that if this is going to be risky, then I should be the one taking the risks," Alec said reasonably.

"I could _shake_ you right now-" Izzy seethed. 

"Alright, everybody calm down," Ragnor interrupted. "Nobody is taking any unnecessary risks. But you'll have to understand that confronting any demon like this, much less a powerful one like Magnus, is dangerous business. If you want to try some other way to save this child who may or may not be your brother, you'll have to decide now."

"We're doing this," Alec insisted. "We have to do this before he goes after Max." 

Izzy closed her eyes and took a deep breath, obviously trying to calm herself down. "Ok, so we'll do this completely topsy-turvy. Switch positions, try to deviate as much as we can from Simon's vision." 

Ragnor snorted. "I have a feeling there is very little that can be done about it, if he is as accurate a psychic as you say he is." 

"Ragnor, you don't have to be here. This isn't your problem," Alec said. 

"As you so rightly pointed out, Magnus was my best friend," Ragnor said. "And I will be damned if I stand by and leave this to you three blundering idiots."

"Hey, now," Jace protested.

"Let's just do this. Give me the cuffs," Alec interjected. Ragnor hesitated, but passed the cuffs to him. Alec looked at his siblings expectantly. 

"I'm in," Jace agreed reluctantly. 

"Only if you promise not to do anything stupid," Izzy finally said, pinning Alec with a hard glare. 

Alec nodded absently, thinking over what Jace had said about Simon's message. "I think I have a plan..."

 

 

Alec resumed filling the goblet and had only just finished the incantation when there were distinct footsteps outside the house, and in a moment Magnus stepped into view just outside the door. His eyes flashed yellow, a cruel smile on his face as he looked around the room. His gaze lingered on Alec, before moving to Ragnor.  

"Ragnor, old friend. How lovely to see you again," he said. 

"Wish I could say the same," Ragnor replied. 

Magnus shrugged elegantly. "Don't beat yourself up over it. I've never been better. No remorse, no need to concern myself with pesky trivialities like morals and a conscience."

"This isn't really you," Ragnor said sadly.  

"This is the real me, alright. The _new_ real me." Magnus took a step forward, then hesitated and squinted at the ceiling. "Oh, Ragnor. I know all your tricks, remember? Hell, _I_ taught you some of them."

Magnus snapped his fingers, and a crack worked its way across the plaster on the ceiling, bisecting the two barely visible devil's traps Alec had drawn and raining dust on all of them. He smirked, then strolled into the house confidently. 

"Interesting choice of location. I assume this is Ragnor's doing - it would be too much of a coincidence for you to have picked the house I used to live in with my mother. Am I to end where I began? Very poetic."

"No. I merely hoped to jog your memory," Ragnor said, and Magnus hummed.  

"Never pegged you as the sentimental sort. You're growing soft in your dotage," Magnus commented. He turned his attention in turn to Izzy and Jace. "And you must be Alexander's lovely siblings. I wish we could have met under happier circumstances. Seems rather ungrateful of you to throw away his sacrifice on this pointless attempt to kill me." 

"Leave them out of this," Alec said. He took a deep breath, and drew out the demon-killing knife from his belt, making sure the runes on them were clearly visible. Magnus' eyes narrowed as he turned to face Alec squarely. 

"So you're the one who's going to kill me, darling?" he asked softly, then his face twisted with rage. 

His arm swung up, no doubt to throw Alec across the room, but Izzy, Jace and Ragnor had already taken out the bottles of holy water hidden in their jackets and splashed Magnus with the contents. Magnus cried out in agony, his skin bubbling and smoking where the holy water had touched him, and Alec rushed forward to grab his wrists and slap the cuffs on.

Magnus started to snarl, already healing from the damage caused by the holy water, then his expression smoothed out into a smirk. "If you wanted to tie me up, darling, you could have just said so."

Alec waited with bated breath to see if the cuffs would hold - Magnus flexed his arms once, muscles bunching underneath his jacket sleeves, then let himself go lax. He raised his chin at Alec challengingly. "Well - I guess you have me at your mercy."  

"We don't want to kill you," Alec clarified.

Magnus raised an eyebrow. "Then what is this for? Are you trying to bargain your way out of your deal? Oh, oops - maybe I shouldn't have said that in front of your siblings."

"Alec told us everything. About the deal, and the demon blood," Jace said.   

"Really?" Magnus asked in a tone of polite disbelief, then turned to look intently at Izzy, flashing a wide smile at her that was all teeth. "I can hear what's going on in your head. So wrathful, Isabelle. But don't you think you should shoulder some of the blame? After all, your brother would not have turned to me if you hadn't broken his heart."

"What?" Izzy frowned.  

"Oh, Alexander. You didn't tell them _everything_ ," Magnus smiled knowingly at Alec. "You didn't tell them that you gave up three more months of your life in exchange for the children I helped you rescue - the children your siblings put in that hellhole in the first place."

Izzy's mouth fell open in shock. 

"God, Alec. You _didn't_ ," Jace said, stricken.

Alec opened his mouth to defend his decisions, then snapped it shut again. What was there to say? Magnus wasn't wrong. 

Magnus took the opportunity to twist out of his grasp and make a run for the exit. Alec startled, then ran after him, only to get a hard kick in the stomach that knocked all the wind out of him. Izzy and Jace sprang into action, but even with his powers suppressed, Magnus was proving quite hard to take down. He shoved Izzy out of his way easily, and headbutted Jace with enough force to make his nose bloody.

He was almost over the threshold of the main door when a devil's trap appeared on the reflective newly-scrubbed floor - mirrored hazily from the one on the ceiling, which was glowing under the beam of a blacklight lantern.

"Magnus, stop running," Ragnor panted, trying to catch his breath from having dashed across the room to grab the lantern. "It's time to come home." Magnus turned to look at Ragnor with such a look of raw anguish that Alec couldn't tear his eyes away. 

The Lightwood siblings picked themselves up, and Alec gingerly approached Magnus with the intention of grabbing him before he found another way to wriggle out of their grasp, only to be confronted by Jace and Izzy.

"What the _hell_ , Alec?!" Jace fumed, his voice garbled from his bleeding nose. "Why do you keep throwing your life away like that, as if it means nothing?"

"Have you not learnt your lesson yet? You two can yell at your damned bleeding heart of a brother to your heart's content when we get back to the church," Ragnor scolded. "Right now we have to-"  

There was a sickening cracking sound, and a large chunk of the ceiling fell down - right onto Ragnor. 

"Ragnor!" Izzy cried out in shock.

Between the three of them, they managed to get Ragnor out from under the rubble - he was still breathing, but unconscious, and there was a nasty bump on his forehead from where he'd struck the floor.

"We need to get him to the nearest hospital," Alec said quickly.

"I can heal him." 

Alec looked up at Magnus, who was standing stock still in the devil's trap, every line in his body tense. "I can heal him," Magnus repeated. "But you need to get these cuffs off."

 

 


	15. Hey Man, Nice Shot

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _Now that the smoke's gone_   
>  _And the air is all clear_   
>  _Those who were right there_   
>  _Got a new kind of fear_
> 
> [_"Hey Man, Nice Shot", Filter_ ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9mJ82x_l-E)

 

  

"Just let you out. That's all? Not like... another deal?" Alec asked cautiously, already moving towards Magnus. 

"Well, if you really want to kiss me, I wouldn't be opposed to it," Magnus said flippantly, the hard lines of his shoulders relaxing. 

Alec ignored this and grabbed him by the arm, then nodded to Jace to indicate that he should turn off the blacklight lantern.

As Alec dragged Magnus across the room towards Ragnor, Magnus asked conversationally, "So if you weren't trying to kill me, what did you want with me?" When Alec remained silent, Magnus looked towards Izzy, then Jace. "Ah. You think your baby brother is still alive. How?" 

Alec struggled to keep his mind blank, trying to think of anything else at all, but after a while Magnus cocked his head at Jace. "Interesting. Who is Simon?"

Jace stiffened immediately. "Leave him alone."

Magnus simply smiled and did not answer. He held out his cuffed hands to Alec, smirking while Alec unlocked the cuffs. "We should do this again some other time, darling. But maybe not in front of your siblings."

Alec met his eyes squarely, face impassive, and Magnus looked away first.  

As Magnus crouched down to Ragnor's side, Alec caught the movement of Jace reaching for the holy water in his jacket out of the corner of his eye and quickly shook his head. They couldn't risk it, couldn't risk spooking Magnus and forcing him to choose between making a bid for his freedom and healing Ragnor. They all watched Magnus reach out to Ragnor with their hearts in their throats - then Magnus suddenly snapped his fingers, and in the blink an eye, he was gone. 

"Fuck! He tricked us!" Jace cursed.

"No, not entirely - the bump on Ragnor's head is gone," Alec observed.  

"Here, let me," Izzy said, checking Ragnor's vitals quickly.

Much to their relief, Ragnor soon began to stir. He looked up at their faces surrounding him and waved them away irritably so he could sit up. He took in the rubble around him, the collapsed ceiling, and the empty cuffs dangling from Alec's hand. "Let's get out of here before more of this old house falls apart," he said gruffly.

They agreed to split up - Izzy and Jace would go to Simon and try to convince him to come with them, or at the very least demon-proof his house, in case Magnus tried to find him. Ragnor grudgingly agreed to let Alec drive him home after some insistence from Izzy that he needed rest, magical healing or not.

Ragnor was silent for a long while on the drive back through the dark roads. Alec wasn't really the type to turn on the radio, but the cuffs were weighing heavy in his pocket. It couldn't have been easy for Ragnor, seeing Magnus like that, seeing what he'd become. And just like Ragnor had predicted, they'd fucked the whole thing up.

"You do realise that now that you've let him go, it will be almost impossible for us to recapture him," Ragnor finally said. "And he may go back to the original plan of trying to kill this boy, the vessel of Lucifer. Your brother."

"Yes, but we couldn't let you die," Alec replied quietly. "We'll find another way. As long as we have Simon's visions as a warning, we are one step ahead of Magnus. Like what we did just now."   

"Except that it almost didn't work," Ragnor observed. "You tried to stop them from finding out about the second deal by instructing them not to speak to Magnus, but it all came out in the end. And I do not doubt that if Magnus had not seen healing me as an opportunity to escape, I would be dead. It may be possible that the future Simon sees cannot be circumvented."

"But you _didn't_ die," Alec pointed out. 

"We may be able to change the details, but not the outcome," Ragnor said musingly. He caught Alec sneaking a worried glance at him and snorted. "Don't worry - I don't think I'm going to drop dead right this instant. I feel remarkably well for someone who's just been hit over the head with a rather large amount of concrete." 

"He could have left without healing you, you know. There's no way we could have stopped him, once the cuffs were off," Alec said seriously. "The future Simon saw didn't come true because Magnus made a choice."

"You are a proponent of free will over destiny, then. I cannot say that I disagree," Ragnor said with a smile. "Speaking of destiny, did you have a chance to look at the Book of Soyga at all when you retrieved it?" 

"No. Why?" Alec frowned.

"Since you are destined to be Michael's vessel, I wonder if the vessel has the same abilities as the archangel," Ragnor shrugged.

"You think I might be able to understand the Enochian cipher at the end?" Alec asked hesitantly. To be honest, the thought of being destined to be possessed by an angel was making his skin crawl. When it came down to it, it didn't seem any better than being doomed to torture in Hell until he became a demon - in both cases, he would no longer be _him_. 

"Only one way to find out," Ragnor said.

  

  

They were almost at the backdoor of the church that led directly to the rectory when they heard a loud crash coming from inside the church. Alec and Ragnor exchanged a look, then quickly went back to Ragnor's car for weapons - he didn't have much, not being very active in hunting ever since Magnus and Catarina had died, but both of them managed to arm themselves with a machete each, as well as a shotgun and a handgun.

"Be careful with that," Ragnor said when Alec pocketed the handgun. "That's silver, not rock salt, and that'll kill a human being as easily as it'll kill a monster. Our intruder might just be some bloody teenager messing around." 

Ragnor had secured the main door of the church with a length of chain and a padlock before he'd left; the chain was still there, but the padlock had been cut.

"So we're thinking more human, less monster?" Alec muttered.

"I think a little of both - a human cut that lock, but whoever or whatever is inside there didn't coil that chain back on the outside," Ragnor said, hefting his shotgun.  

There was no point being quiet, removing the chain had already made plenty of noise. Alec kicked the door open, and they ducked out of the way, waiting. When all seemed quiet, they moved in cautiously. The church was not big, but in the weak pre-dawn light there were far too many shadows. Ragnor tried the lights - nothing came on, which probably meant someone had cut the fuses. Alec squinted as he tried to catch any hint of movement, heart pounding in his chest. He'd just driven for four hours straight, and he couldn't remember when was the last time he'd slept properly, although he suspected the bone-deep exhaustion he was feeling had little to do with a lack of sleep.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Ragnor lower his shotgun to examine something on the back of one of the pews. He risked a quick glance, gun still trained on the shadows - claw marks. 

"Werewolves," Ragnor muttered.

"Werewolves?" Alec frowned. "But it's already dawn, and I'm pretty sure it's not the full moon."

Ragnor shrugged. "There are werewolves that are born wolves, not turned - purebloods. They can transform during any stage of the lunar cycle, but they don't blackout during the transformation. They can control themselves."

"So intelligent, rational werewolves who can plot," Alec said, jaws clenching. "You pissed off a pack?"

"Not that I'm aware of, no," Ragnor said. There was another crash, somewhere deeper in - it sounded like it might be coming from Ragnor's office. "I think there is more to this than meets the eye."

They moved towards the office, but perhaps the werewolf had caught their scent, because it came charging out, snarling. It didn't move like anything remotely in control, and seemed even more feral than Alec remembered from the few werewolves he'd faced. In the near-darkness, the only physical characteristic he caught was a flash of long blond matted hair. He fired on instinct when the beast came towards him, and from his left he heard Ragnor's gun go off as well, and the creature went down a few feet away from him.

They waited for a while, then Alec approached the prone body cautiously and felt for a pulse - it was dead.

"Do you think there are more of them?" he asked Ragnor.

"For an obvious trap, that seemed a little too easy, didn't it?" Ragnor frowned.

But a careful search of the rest of the church and rectory turned up no more intruders, human or monster. Ragnor's office had been completely trashed, books torn up and pages strewn everywhere, but not entirely in the random way a feral werewolf might have destroyed the place for the sake of pure destruction. Whoever it was had even gotten into the basement where Ragnor kept his more valuable books and weapons. 

"Nothing terribly important missing, or at least nothing irreplaceable," Ragnor said.

"But they must have been after something? The Book of Soyga!" Alec exclaimed suddenly. "Have you checked-" 

"Don't worry - it's not here," Ragnor assured him with a smirk. "I buried it in Magnus' empty grave. Just my idea of a little joke." 

Alec huffed out a laugh. "Ok. Guess we'd better go and clear up that corpse upstairs before your parishioners wander in and call the cops."

The werewolf had fallen forward when he'd been shot. Alec turned the body over with Ragnor's help, and to his horror, found that the monster bore a face he recognised. 

"Hodge. Damnit," Alec closed his eyes and dropped his chin. 

Their friend and former mentor's face was bruised and oddly discoloured, distorted by his mouthful of sharp teeth and contorted with pain, but it was still very recognisably him. If it hadn't been so dark in the church when he had attacked them, Alec wouldn't have been able to bring himself shoot him, feral werewolf or not.

"He was a friend of yours?" Ragnor asked. "For what it's worth, I'm sorry for your loss."

"Jonathan Morgenstern told us he was eaten by a ghoul in a hunt," Alec’s face screwed up in anger, and he aimed a punch at a nearby pew, relishing the ache of the impact. "Should have known the bastard was lying. He just used some other mangled corpse to trick us."

"No need to take it out on the church," Ragnor said mildly. He frowned, examining the teeth and claws. "Not a pureblood, yet he transformed in the day. And the way he behaved - even turned werewolves aren't like that."

"They must have tortured him. Experimented on him," Alec said dully. 

"Well, I guess at least that tells us who broke in," Ragnor said. "The Circle must have left him out of spite when they failed to find the Book." 

"I think they'd have left him anyway," Alec said, recalling what he'd done to Valentine Morgenstern. He sighed. "Izzy and Jace will want to know."

With Ragnor's help, he managed to shift Hodge's body into the basement, and left Ragnor to start on the cleaning up while he called his siblings. He went out to the cemetery for a bit of privacy, his feet wandering towards Magnus' grave out of a compulsion he couldn't explain, and slumped against the headstone. He tried Izzy first, but she didn't pick up the phone. Jace didn't pick up either. He frowned, starting to feel uneasy - Magnus' mother's house had been sort of between Ragnor's and Simon's, so they should have arrived at Simon's by now. Faced with no other choice, he dialed Simon's number, but that went straight to voicemail. 

It was always possible that they were still asleep at this hour, but Izzy was a light sleeper and almost always answered her phone. He should have known splitting up was a bad idea - in all the uproar over Magnus, he had completely forgotten about the Circle. Simon's place was a full 8-hour drive away, and he probably shouldn't have been thinking of getting on the road again, but what other choice was there? Maybe Ragnor was feeling well enough to drive instead.

He had just managed to heave himself up on his feet when there was a strange sound behind him, like the fluttering of a bird's wings. He spun around, hand already dropping to his belt for the demon-killing blade, and was shocked to see Izzy, Jace, and Simon standing right behind him - as well as a stranger in a dark grey suit.

"Alec!" Izzy cried, rushing over to hug him tightly.  

"What happened?"  

There was broken glass in her hair, her hands and face littered with tiny cuts. Izzy was obviously shaken, rambling in a nervous way that was very unlike her. "Simon didn't want to leave because of his mum and sis, and it wasn't convenient to talk because his mum's a light sleeper, so Jace and I brought him out to a 24-hour diner to talk. And when we got back-" Izzy's voice broke. "It was like the motel all over again."

"Demons?" Alec asked, bile rising in his throat. _Magnus_.  

"Jonathan Morgenstern, and Clary," Izzy replied, and Alec immediately felt relieved, then guilty for feeling relieved that it hadn't been Magnus. "Except Clary isn't Clary anymore. She's possessed by something, she must be. She threw me and Jace against the wall, and her eyes went all white, but before she could touch Simon there was this deafening screeching sound that broke all the glass in the windows, and a blinding white light... and the thing that looked like Clary disappeared with Jonathan."  

A monster with white eyes? Deafening screeches and blinding lights? They'd never heard of anything like that before.

"It's going to be alright, Iz," Alec said by force of habit, even though they'd dropped into a world where it was no longer something that he could promise her. "And who's this guy?" he asked, indicating the stranger.

The stranger was holding himself stiffly and arrogantly, pulling his shoulders back as if to make up for his short stature. He had a boyish round face, and was probably younger than all of them - he didn't look much older than 18. When they had all appeared, he'd had his hand on Jace's and Izzy's shoulders, and Jace had been holding Simon's hand. Jace had since shrugged his hand off and had put himself between the stranger and Simon, like a shield, and was eyeing him warily.

"He just walked in and helped Jace and I up... then he grabbed us, and suddenly we were here," Izzy said hesitantly.

"Are you a demon?" Jace demanded.

The dour-faced young man frowned, looking at the faces all around him showing varying degrees of hostility and fearfulness. "I am Raphael, and I'm an Angel of the Lord."

 

  


	16. Highway to Hell

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _I'm on the highway to hell_   
>  _Highway to hell_   
>  _And I'm going down_   
>  _All the way_
> 
> [_"Highway to Hell", AC/DC_ ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l482T0yNkeo)

 

 

"An angel," Jace repeated. "And you're possessing some teenager now?" 

"He's a devout Catholic. He prayed for me to heal his sister, and in return he agreed that he would serve as my vessel whenever I needed," the supposed-angel frowned.  

"Taking advantage of someone's desperation. Typical," Jace muttered.   

"Wait, you said your name is Raphael. As in the archangel?" Izzy asked hesitantly, and he nodded. "Why did an archangel come to rescue us?"

"I didn't come for you. I came for him," Raphael said, indicating Simon, who was pale-faced and wide-eyed, and uncharacteristically silent. 

"What do you want with Simon?" Jace demanded.  

"Every Prophet is protected by an archangel from the moment of his birth. Anything that threatens a Prophet of the Lord will face the full force of Heaven's wrath," Raphael replied solemnly. 

"Prophet? Simon is a Prophet?" Alec frowned. "So the stuff he's been dreaming about - you're telling us they are visions from _God_?"  

"Woah, hold up here. Demons - fine, I get. Angels were a bit of a stretch. But _God_?!" Jace said incredulously.  

Raphael ignored Jace's outburst, his gaze fixed on Alec. "I suggest that you accept the role you were meant to play, Alec Lightwood," Raphael said, looking at Alec with an expression of deep disdain. "Oh, we know all about you - Michael's sword, consorting with demons. I can feel the taint of the demon blood from here." 

Alec regarded him coolly. "So Michael and Lucifer can turn earth into a battlefield? How many people are going to die in the crossfire? A million? A billion? Everyone? I think I'll pass."

"The Prophets that came before Simon foretold the battle between Michael and Lucifer. And as it was written, so it must come to pass," Raphael replied gravely. "Besides, the battle has already begun. Lucifer is still locked in his cage, but not for long. Even with the Hosts of Heaven guarding the Seals on his cage, the demons are winning - and once the 66 Seals are broken, Lucifer will walk the earth." 

"What are the Seals? Can we help?" Izzy asked.

"You're just a human," Raphael frowned. "There is no way you can help - look how you fared against Lilith."

"Is that... is that the name of the thing that's possessing Clary?" Izzy asked.

"She is the first demon, Lucifer's most trusted lieutenant, and she is leading the hordes of Hell to break the Seals," Raphael nodded.

"Where is your God, then?" Alec challenged. "Are you telling me he couldn't stop all this if he wanted to?" 

"Our Father is... away," Raphael said, looking uncomfortable. 

"Well, get your bro Michael to stop her, then. Instead of sitting on his thumbs in Heaven waiting to possess my brother!" Jace snarled. 

"Michael isn't in Heaven," Raphael replied sullenly. "And neither is Gabriel. Although I have no doubt that they will both reveal themselves when it is time for the final battle. Now if you will excuse me, I happen to be in the middle of a war." There was that fluttering sound again, and then the archangel was gone. 

"What an asshole," Jace muttered. "Good riddance. Right, Simon?... Simon?" 

Simon was shivering like he had been soaked to the bone in the middle of winter, staring blankly at the spot where Raphael had disappeared. "It's my fault."

"What?" Jace reached out for Simon, but he flinched away.

"Raphael said that if anything threatened me, he would come. But I wasn't there. I went out with you guys, and Becky and my mum..." Simon swallowed hard. "I wasn't there for them." 

"Hey, you couldn't have known," Jace protested.

"Simon, it's not your fault," Izzy agreed earnestly. 

"And it's not like you left them completely unprotected. We lined the doors and windows with salt before we left," Jace pointed out. "The demon probably tricked them into letting it in because it was possessing Clary." 

"Yeah, and that's my fault too, don't you see? The demons would never have gone after Clary if she wasn't my best friend!" Simon yelled.

"Hey, calm down-" Jace took a step towards Simon. 

"Don't touch me!" Simon shouted, and backed away from them. "Just stay away from me." He turned and ran off blindly through the little graveyard. 

"Shit! I'm going to go after him," Jace said, already taking off.

Izzy sighed, gravitating towards Alec until he had his arms wrapped around her shoulders again. "Are you really planning to say 'no' to Michael?" Izzy asked Alec softly. "And what did he mean, that Michael and Gabriel aren't in Heaven?"

"It doesn't sound good, does it?" Alec frowned. "But yeah. I'm not going to. Anyway if he's anything like Raphael, he's probably a huge asshole."

"That's definitely not what I imagined an angel would be like," Izzy mumbled.  

"Are you ok? I mean, I know you liked Clary."

"She was smart and funny and sweet. She doesn't deserve this. God, and Max, and _you_. What are we going to do?" Izzy said softly. 

Alec hugged her tighter. Angels, demons, the Circle - the odds against them were stacked. If he'd been a praying sort of guy, Alec would have said that they needed a miracle for him to get Izzy, Jace, Ragnor and possibly even Simon, Max and Clary through this, except that they were fresh out of divine miracles because apparently God was an asshole too. Unless...

"Let's go find Ragnor and tell him what's happened," Alec suggested, brushing some of the glass out of Izzy's hair. 

"You're right. He has all those books, and he must have contacts of other hunters. We just need to come up with a new plan," Izzy said, squaring her shoulders. 

"Yeah," Alec agreed. All they needed was a new plan. 

 

 

Jace came back with Simon in tow a few hours later and spent the rest of the day alternating between coaxing, bribing and attempting to bully Simon into eating, drinking, napping, _something_ \- anything besides staring into space, eyes red and swollen but dry. They'd had to take care of Hodge's remains as well, in a hunter's funeral - wrapping the body in an old sheet, then bringing it to an abandoned farm not too far away, then covering the body with salt before burning it on a pyre so he wouldn't come back as a vengeful spirit. By the time they were back, Ragnor had gotten what remained of his books mostly in order, and Izzy proceeded to pull out every book that had anything to do with angels and the Apocalypse, much to Ragnor's annoyance. 

"Have you tried the Bible?" he asked sarcastically.

"Already did," Izzy said distractedly, consulting her notes. "And according to the Book of Revelations, there are seven markers of the Apocalypse. They may just seem like strange occurrences to normal people, so I think we should check the news to see if anything matches. So we can guess how far along the demons are to breaking the 66 Seals." 

"Alright, hit me with it. What am I looking for?" Jace asked, opening his laptop.

Izzy nodded. "The first four signs are the riding of the Four Horsemen. So Pestilence first - anything to do with crop failure, or disease..." 

"I think those were meant to be symbolic - but by all means ignore the ordained priest," Ragnor grumbled, then went off to bed so he would be prepared for the morning service. 

By three in the morning, Jace had nearly dropped his laptop twice from dozing off, and Izzy was looking slightly maniacal.

"I'm just going to get another cup of coffee," she said, getting up, and Alec put a hand on her arm to stop her.

"Hey, no more coffee. Go to bed," he told them.

"But-"

"The world isn't ending tomorrow."

"Famous last words," Jace muttered, but closed his laptop.

Once he was sure that they were asleep, Alec got dressed and sneaked out. He'd gone through the church, intending to use the side door so he wouldn't risk waking Izzy or Ragnor if he used the door of the rectory, and startled when something moved in the shadows at the back of the church. He squinted. 

"Simon?" 

Simon had his hands clasped in front of him - Alec guessed that he'd been praying. He hadn't actually spoken to Simon at all since he'd arrived, leaving it up to his siblings to comfort him. To be honest, he felt a bit like it was partly his fault, even though the visions Simon had been having had really been about Magnus.

Alec crossed the distance between them hesitantly. "I'm sorry about your family."

Simon nodded jerkily in acknowledgement, and took a shaky breath before he spoke. "I don't dare to sleep." 

Of course - because that was when the visions came. Alec shifted his weight awkwardly, wondering if he should still go anyway, now that Simon had spotted him.

"I know where you're going, by the way," Simon said. "I saw it before Jace and Izzy woke me up last night - or part of it, at least." 

Alec had to admit he was relieved. He hadn't been sure if Magnus would respond to his summons at all - not after he and his siblings and Ragnor had just cornered him and basically tried to imprison him. "Um. So... was it bad?" 

"I don't know what his answer will be, but he's pissed." 

"Thanks for the warning," Alec said, adjusting his backpack, which was heavy with the weight of the silver goblet. He started towards the door. 

"Hey," Simon called out softly. "By the way, I think your plan is fucking insane."

Alec snorted. "Yeah, don't I know it."

Simon sighed. "I won't tell Jace and the rest, though. Good luck, man."

Alec gave him a small smile. "Thanks. I guess I'm going to need it."

 

  

The abandoned farm where they'd put Hodge to rest seemed as good a place as any. Alec had seen a building a distance away from where they'd placed the pyre, which turned out to be a barn. There were missing planks in the walls and roof but the back door had been barred, leaving only the main door to defend. Alec swept the remnants of mouldy straw off a corner of the floor for his electric lantern, then got to work.  

For a long while after he'd finished the incantation, everything remained deadly quiet, but Simon had said that Magnus would come, so Alec tried to be patient, watching the main door. Then, he thought he heard something behind him. 

Alec barely had time to turn before he was thrown into a wall. The old wood splintered from the impact and Alec landed painfully on his side, the thin layer of mouldy straw doing nothing to cushion his fall. He was still struggling to pick himself up when he was slammed against the wall, then slowly pulled up over the rough wood, the splinters catching on his clothes until he was about two feet off the ground, his arms and legs forced into a splayed position such that he was pinned spread-eagled on the wall. 

Magnus brushed an imaginary speck of dust off his jacket. "Alexander, I thought you'd be smarter than to try this again. Are you trying to force me to set my hellhounds on you ahead of schedule?" 

"I came alone. No weapons. I just wanted to talk," Alec croaked. It was proving a bit hard to breathe in this position.  

"Not even that special knife you threatened to gut me with? You won't mind if I don't take your word for it, do you, darling? I think I should frisk you, just to be sure," Magnus said as he approached Alec. 

"I know that you're trying to stop the Apocalypse."

That seemed to give Magnus pause. He raised an eyebrow at Alec. "I'm not doing it out of the goodness of my heart. It's just survival."

"I don't care why you're doing it - I'm in," Alec said, deciding that there wouldn't be any point calling him out on his bullshit. "But you've got to help me rescue Max."

"Another deal? Why, Alexander. If I didn't know better, I'd say you were just looking for excuses to kiss me," Magnus murmured. He was standing right in front of Alec now, close enough for Alec to see the streaks of gold in his reflective eyes.

"I'm not making a deal. I'm offering an alliance," Alec corrected him. "We want the same things."

"Do we?" Magnus smirked, running a perfectly manicured finger down Alec's abs, almost to the edge of his waistband. Alec closed his eyes and tried not to move or fight against his restraints, and suddenly found himself falling to his knees. He gulped in a few deep breaths, trying to ease the tightness in his chest. 

"Well, you've piqued my interest. Continue," Magnus said.  

"I don't want to be an angel's vessel, so you don't have to worry about me saying 'yes'. And if we get Max away from the demons, then we'll stop Lucifer from getting him too."

"I think you're underestimating how far the angels will go to make you give your consent," Magnus said. "And as for your brother... They've been brainwashing him for a year - Lucifer may be the Devil, but he was an angel too, so they've been grooming him. Besides, I'm not sure your brother is human anymore."

"What do you mean?"  

"He may be Lucifer's true vessel, but one doesn't just let the Devil in. They've been strengthening him for Lucifer by force-feeding him demon blood since they took him. At this point, there's probably more demon blood than human blood in his veins."

"I have to try. We'll try to break the hold of the demon blood - blood transfusions, something," Alec said. "And there's a demon - Lilith. She's trying to break the Seals of Lucifer's cage. If we stop her, we stop Lucifer from rising. No Apocalypse, no need for vessels."

"There will be other demons who will step up. Everyone wants the honour of being the one to free the king," Magnus shrugged. "But now that you mention it, one of the demons I tortured to find out where they were hiding Max Lightwood did mention that Lilith is the key to breaking the final Seal. And Lilith is powerful, but it's not impossible to kill her. The knife you have, for example. And even if that doesn't work, there is a weapon that is rumoured to be able to kill everything in existence - Samuel Colt's pistol." 

"But those would kill the girl she's possessing too, wouldn't they?" Alec frowned.  

"Oh, are you trying to save her too?" Magnus asked, amused. "I think there may come a time when you must realise that you can't save everybody in the world, Alexander. But there _is_ a way to kill Lilith without killing her host, provided she hasn't already damaged her beyond healing. Of course, you may find the price too high to pay."

Alec gritted his teeth. "Name it."

"Drink enough demon blood - especially the blood of a powerful demon like a Prince of Hell, and it gives you powers. Fuelled by your human soul, you could exorcise or even kill any demon without touching them." 

"What's the catch?" 

"You already know it, Alexander," Magnus said. "If you thought it was bad when you drank from me the first time, this will be much worse - you're going to need a lot more from me if you want to be strong enough to kill Lilith." 

"Then Michael won't be able to use me for his vessel. If that's what it takes to save the world, to stop Lilith, then I'm in."

"And you'll put yourself at my mercy? Addicted to my blood, craving my presence, desperate enough to do anything I'd ask you to? I told you there would come a day that you'd want me so badly you'd be ready to go down on your knees gasping for me to take you. Is today that day?" Magnus asked slyly.

Alec met his eyes squarely. "I trust you." 

Magnus couldn't hide the shock on his face, his gaze softening. "Oh, darling. Then you're an even bigger fool than I thought," Magnus whispered. 

Alec leaned in, hands twisting in Magnus' lapels just as Magnus claimed his mouth in a hungry kiss. He parted his lips to let Magnus in, let Magnus ravage his mouth and push him back against the wall, then his fingers were undoing Magnus' fly and tugging his pants off his hips. 

Magnus broke off from the kiss, smirking. "Down to business already?"

"Lube yourself," Alec replied bluntly, flipping their positions and getting to his knees so he could pull Magnus' pants off properly. He pressed a finger to Magnus' entrance, and Magnus made an impatient noise.  

"No, let me do this," Alec insisted quietly, working the finger in slowly, then kissing the tattoo on Magnus' hip, that reminder of the person he'd once been - buried somewhere under the centuries of bitterness and pain that had twisted him into what he now was.

He worked a second finger in, biting and sucking the skin over the ink until the design was coloured in with a bruise. Magnus tangled his hand in Alec's hair and tugged him to his feet roughly, kissing him so hard that Alec couldn't breathe, only stopping to pull Alec's shirt off. Alec fumbled with his own jeans and shoved them down to his thighs, stumbling a little from the weight when he finally managed to hoist Magnus up against the wall. Then Magnus wrapped his legs around Alec's waist and he pushed himself in, groaning as he felt Magnus' body yield to him. He braced against the rough wall for support, feeling the bite of the unpolished planks digging into his palm as gravity did the work of lowering Magnus onto his cock until he was seated fully inside. Magnus was panting against his mouth, eyes squeezed shut with pleasure but brows furrowed from the sting of stretch.

"Alexander," Magnus whispered, his thighs tightening around Alec's waist in a wordless demand for him to move; at Alec's first thrust, Magnus' fingers dug painfully into his shoulders.

Another thrust, then another, and another; Alec's arms were screaming from the strain of holding Magnus up, his hips driving forward almost mindlessly as Magnus' body clenched around him. Alec leaned in to kiss Magnus again, gasping when Magnus started fucking Alec's mouth with his tongue. Magnus' scored his nails down Alec's back and Alec cried out into Magnus' mouth, hips stuttering upwards and cock twitching inside the overwhelming heat of Magnus' body. He picked up the pace, fucking hard into Magnus with every last ounce of his strength, until Magnus was moaning into the kiss and grinding down as if he was trying to take Alec even deeper; then Magnus tensed up and came, his release splattering their chests and staining Magnus' shirt. 

Alec tried to pull back, but Magnus refused to let the kiss end, nipping and biting Alec's lips more insistently until the faint salty taste of his own blood was mixed in with their kiss.

"Come inside me, Alexander," Magnus murmured, before sealing their mouths together again, holding Alec's head in place and kissing him deeply.

Alec rocked his hips forward, and Magnus dug his heels into Alec's lower back to meet his thrusts, gasping and moaning as he let Alec seek his own pleasure inside his body until Alec was teetering on the brink of his orgasm. Then a second taste bloomed inside his mouth, harsh and potent - and Alec felt the jolt of power going right through his system, a lightning strike.

Alec cried out as he came, with Magnus' blood on his tongue and his name on his lips. 


	17. Hell's Bells

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _I'll give you black sensations up and down your spine_   
>  _If you're into evil you're a friend of mine_   
>  _See the white light flashing as I split the night..._
> 
> [_"Hell's Bells", AC/DC_ ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=etAIpkdhU9Q)

 

 

Alec took a swig from his hip flask as he pored over the blueprints of the old church and maps of the surrounding area that Izzy had obtained by hacking into some government databases, a skill she'd picked up from god-knows-where. It had taken them almost two months to come up with the plan, and they'd finally decided that it was as good as they were going to get. After all, time wasn't exactly on their side. It was only a matter of time before Jonathan Morgenstern and Lilith tried to come for the book or Simon again, and Alec had exactly two months left before the hellhounds came for him. 

Simon, who was sitting on the couch opposite Alec, starting on his daily bottle of whiskey, wrinkled his nose when Alec took another sip from the flask, then held up his hands in surrender when Alec glared at him. "Sorry, it's not you, it's me. I have a thing about blood."

Alec's eyes widened. He quickly glanced around to make sure nobody else was in earshot, then frowned and grabbed the whiskey bottle away from Simon. "If you can't keep your mouth shut when you're drunk, then you shouldn't drink," he said in a harsh whisper. 

Simon tried to snatch the bottle back and nearly fell on his face when he leaned forward, only just managing to catch himself by grabbing the edge of the table. He slumped against the back of the couch, looking exhausted. It was obvious that he hadn't been sleeping well, and the alcohol probably wasn't helping. 

"I've been keeping it quiet for weeks now. Done all you asked, pretending I'd gotten all that information about Lilith's new headquarters from the visions," Simon pointed out, speech already slightly slurred but still managing to keep his voice low. "Covered for you all the times you were supposed to be on guard duty but went to find Magnus." 

"Yeah, you did," Alec admitted grudgingly. "I owe you."

Simon held out his hand. "Can I have my booze back now?" 

Alec hesitated, then handed it over. They all had their ways of coping, and it had been like this for the three of them too, when the grief over their parents' deaths had still been fresh. And Simon had it so much worse - at least the Lightwoods hadn't had to watch a monster wear their best friend's face, and didn't get increasingly agonising headaches from his prophetic dreams. 

"I saw you exorcise and kill the demon without hurting the guy it was possessing, for the last guy Magnus had you practice on. So you're ready to take on Lilith, right?"

Alec shook his head. "Magnus thinks I'm going to need a lot more juice before we go in. Which is why I'm going to meet him later." 

Simon made a face. "Ugh. More power to you, man. Guess that means I should stop, if I have to cover for you later." He looked down at his whiskey bottle, then at the plans Alec was looking through, and frowned. "Or maybe not," he muttered, and took another large gulp of whiskey.

"Still no visions about how this will go tomorrow?" Alec asked Simon.  

Simon frowned. "Hey, I'm not a Magic 8 Ball." 

Alec chewed on his lower lip. "I'm just... worried."

"You think Magnus is going to double-cross you and not turn up, don't you? That's why I'm not getting a vision - he's not going to be there," Simon said quietly. 

"That, or something is going to happen to him that prevents him from turning up."

"Dude, I hate to have to say this, but he's a badass Prince of Hell, and we're just puny humans. I think he can take care of himself," Simon said. "Anyway, whatever it is I haven't had any new dreams other than glimpses of your amateur sex tape - which, for the record, I definitely want to opt out of. The last one was of him going into that normal-looking house in the suburbs, and then a burst of white light. Maybe you should just, you know, _ask_ him what's in that house."

"And make him suspicious of how I even knew about that? I'm not sure he bought my story about us torturing a demon who sold him out and told us he was trying to stop the Apocalypse. If he knows we have you, it's going to be another target on your back." 

"Yeah. Much as I'd like to meet the guy who's going to make me go down in history as the guy who did the graphic novel gospel, he's fucking scary," Simon admitted. "But if Magnus is the hero in this story, then why isn't he in the scene where we kill the Big Bad and we all live happily ever after?" 

"Do you think I'm making a mistake?" Alec asked Simon, and Simon shrugged. 

"Kill Lilith, buy us more time to rescue Max, then try give yourself over to Magnus' hellhounds and have us salt and burn your body so you're gone forever and you've screwed Michael of his vessel. I don't know, sounds like a brilliant plan, no idea what you're talking about," Simon said sarcastically.  

"What's a brilliant plan?" Jace asked from behind them. 

"This, of course," Simon said, gesturing to the mess of papers on the table, before taking another long swallow of whiskey.  

"Yeah? I hope it works," Jace said, missing the point entirely. "Even if we manage to get all the sprinklers on with the holy water like Ragnor suggested, we still have to fight, like, a few dozen demons and Circle members to get to Lilith."

Alec snorted and took another sip from his flask.  

"Dude, when did you start day-drinking?" Jace raised an eyebrow at him. "Actually you know what, you're right. Pass me the flask." 

"No, gross, you have a flu and this flask is only just enough for me. Share with your boyfriend," Alec said, quickly stowing his hip flask away in his pocket.

"I'm not his boyfriend, but good call," Simon agreed amicably, offering his bottle to Jace.  

Jace accepted it, then said casually, "Wow, so we might all be dead by noon tomorrow. We should, you know, probably do something."  

Simon snorted. "I'm not drunk enough for that, Lightwood."

"Please don't call him 'Lightwood' when you're flirting with him - in case you've forgotten, that's me and Izzy too. It's weird," Alec complained. 

"Of all the people on this fucking planet, you do not get to complain that _I_ am making things weird, _Alexander_ ," Simon said, drunkenly waggling a finger in his direction.

"Huh?" Jace looked from one to the other, puzzled by Alec's blush. 

"Where's Izzy? I think I should go over the escape strategy with her," Alec said quickly. 

"Basement. Helping Ragnor carve the devil's traps into the bullets." 

"Right." Alec got up from his seat and started gathering the papers. 

"Wait - what time are we supposed to be on our way, again?" Jace asked.

"Midnight. It's a six-hour drive." 

"Shit. Ok. Twelve hours to the beginning of the end," Jace muttered.  

Alec made his way to the staircase, stopping when he was out of sight to finish the last of the blood inside his flask. Only nine more hours to go, give or take, before he could sneak out to meet Magnus, and he'd be cutting it close. He shifted the papers to one arm, holding them close to his chest, and shoved the other hand in his pocket, hoping that the tremors that were starting in his hands wouldn't be that noticeable as long as Izzy didn't try to rope him into carving bullets. 

 

 

**_-TWO HOURS AND TWENTY-SIX MINUTES TO MIDNIGHT-_ **

****

  

The hotels that Magnus tended to choose were extravagant, opulent - nothing that Alec would have ever picked, because he would have stood out like a sore thumb in his worn jeans and faded t-shirt. So it was probably a good thing that Magnus always zapped them directly to the hotel room from wherever they'd agreed to meet. Alec had his lips on Magnus' the moment his feet hit the thick carpet, letting Magnus push him against the door and tug at his belt loops. The feeling of Magnus' hard, strong body pressed up against his was familiar but still thrilling, no matter how many times they did this.

"Big day tomorrow. I don't suppose you have time for the full ride," Magnus said softly. "Have to be up early to save the world."

"You'll be there, right? Like you promised," Alec asked, still a little breathless.

"Have I ever failed you?" Magnus murmured, already palming Alec's cock through his jeans. 

Knowing what he knew from Simon's visions, Alec couldn't help the heaviness that settled in his gut at Magnus' answer. It felt like Magnus was trying to distract him as he slid his hand into Alec's boxers, and Alec suddenly didn't have the heart for it. Magnus stopped immediately, and withdrew his hand.

"Are you scared, Alexander?" He cupped Alec's face with unexpected tenderness. "It's ok to be." 

"Maybe. But there's no going back now. I can feel it inside me, Magnus... I've changed."

Magnus cocked his head, looking at him contemplatively. "Do you regret it?"  

Alec shook his head. "No, I know what I have to do."

Magnus zipped Alec's jeans up carefully and stepped back, leading him towards the bed. He settled himself against the headboard of the bed, and patted the space next to him. He busied himself with the top few buttons of his shirt as Alec sat down awkwardly, legs dangling off the side so his filthy shoes wouldn't touch the bedspread. 

"Um..." Alec frowned. "Magnus, what are you doing?" 

"You're going to need a lot of blood, and we don't have much time since you need to get back to Ragnor and your siblings before they find out you're gone." Magnus had one nail poised over his jugular, his collar pulled open. "Ready?"

Alec hesitated, then braced his palms on Magnus' shoulders, leaning in to seal his lips on Magnus' neck just as the blood began to spill from the wound. 

 

 

_**-SEVEN MINUTES TO MIDNIGHT-** _

__

 

"Dude! Where did you go?" Jace exclaimed as Alec rounded the corner of the church to where they were all gathered around the two cars, doing the last checks that they had everything they needed.

"Just one last perimeter check - I went a little further afield today," Alec said. "I wanted to make sure there aren't Circle members lurking around."

"They haven't bothered us for two months, why would they start now?" Jace scoffed. "Although you'd think they'd at least post someone to spy on us." 

"We're assuming they're watching somehow - it's the only reason why we haven't dared to dig the book back up," Izzy pointed out. "Although it does seem odd. Almost like they're expecting us to come to them..."

"They know we'll try to rescue Clary, of course we'll go to them," Jace said dismissively.  

They got in the cars - Alec and Ragnor in one, and Jace, Izzy, and Simon in the other - and started the long drive to the old church where they were going to try to catch Lilith by surprise. The church had been abandoned a decade ago after its macabre past of mysterious deaths and violence had made it unappealing for its congregation, but it was picturesque enough that someone had refurbished it with modern fixtures - plumbing, and most importantly, a smoke alarm and sprinkler system - possibly wishfully thinking that it might work out, before it had been abandoned for good. Its cold stone walls were untouched by moss or climbing plants of any sort, which made it seem all the more disconcerting to Alec. They got to the building just before sunrise, parking just out of reach of the long shadow of the church's teetering bell tower, and Alec's heart sank - Magnus was nowhere in sight. 

"Don't just stand there, help us unload the stuff," Jace hissed, nudging him. 

"Alec, are you quite alright?" Ragnor frowned. Alec nodded, studiously ignoring the sympathetic look Simon was giving him. 

"Ragnor will go round the back to the water tank to bless the water, I'll set the sprinklers off, you two go in with the exorcism recordings, and Simon will stay in the car," Izzy said. 

"Yes, so that my angelic bodyguard doesn't scare Lilith away, I know," Simon said. "I'll only go in if you guys send the emergency flare up and you need to tap out."

Alec took a deep breath, trying to get his head back in the game. "Everybody’s got their guns? Remember, we're shooting to injure, not kill, even for the demons. The devil's traps on the bullets should disarm the demons and make them powerless until we can exorcise them from their hosts." 

"And then all that's left will be to try to subdue Lilith until we find a way to kill her without hurting Clary," Izzy sighed. 

"Hey, one thing at a time, Iz," Jace said encouragingly.  

"Let's move in," Alec said. 

 

  

It was almost laughably easy to get in. The demons smoked out once the holy water came raining down, and Circle members went down and stayed down when they were hit in the arms and legs. An obvious path had been cleared through the debris that had once littered the floor of the abandoned church, leading them straight to what Alec remembered from the blueprints as being a small private chapel on the second floor that had once been reserved for special visitors to the church.  

"This feels like a trap," Alec muttered as they cautiously made their way up the stairs.

"Don't look a gift horse in the mouth, man," Jace declared, already barreling ahead. 

Jonathan Morgenstern was standing on guard in the dark corridor that led to the chapel, flanked by a group of Circle hunters. The moment he spotted them, he shot at Izzy, hitting her in the shoulder. 

Izzy gasped in surprise and pain, but waved them on ahead. "I'm ok! Get to Clary!" 

"Fucking bastard," Jace snarled, advancing on Jonathan with Alec right next to him.

Much to their surprise, Jonathan smirked, then turned tail and fled into to the chapel, slamming the door behind him and leaving the hunters behind - or at least Alec had assumed they were hunters, until their eyes had all turned black. 

The next thing Alec knew, everyone else had been thrown into the air like rag dolls and slammed against the stone walls hard enough to break bone. He threw out his hand on instinct, closed his eyes and concentrated, just as he'd practiced on the dozens of demons Magnus had brought to him. He'd never exorcised more than one at a time before this, but with so much of Magnus' blood surging through his veins, this was _easy._  When he opened his eyes again, all the demons had fallen to their knees, coughing up thick black smoke that pooled around them until the ground beneath them seemed to pulse with a dreadful fire that swallowed them up, and the emptied hosts collapsed to the floor in a dead faint. 

"What the _fuck_?" Jace stared, slack jawed. "Your eyes went all black... like one of _them_."

Ragnor was clutching his left arm, which was bent at a funny angle, face pale but furious. "You stupid boy! What deal have you made with Magnus now?"

"Not a deal," Alec said calmly. "He's agreed to work together with us to kill Lilith." 

"How did you do this?" Izzy asked in horror. 

"He's been drinking Magnus' blood again," Ragnor guessed. "I should have known something was up when you suddenly became as thick as thieves with the Prophet."

"What was I supposed to do?" Alec gritted his teeth. "The _angel_ didn't want to help us." 

"And since you could not move heaven, you have decided to raise hell?" Ragnor snapped. 

"If you want to put it that way," Alec said, shrugging. "But I am strong enough now. I can kill Lilith without hurting Clary, and that's what all this was about. You guys get back to the cars with Simon, I've got this." 

"I'm not letting you do this alone," Jace scowled. "There's still Jonathan to deal with."

"No, Jace. Jonathan can't hurt me, but he can hurt you. Both Ragnor and Izzy are injured, you need to get them to safety," Alec said. "I have to do this alone." Jace hesitated, then nodded tightly at Alec.

 

  

Alec waited till they were all safely out of sight before walking down the corridor towards the heavy wooden doors. He wished he hadn't had to send them away, wished he was as confident as he'd pretended to be. He took a deep breath, then kicked down the door with all his might. As he'd expected, Jonathan promptly fired at the open doorway when the door flew open, but Alec simply froze the bullet in its trajectory, then let it fall to the floor with a metallic tinkle. 

"Alec Lightwood." The redheaded girl greeted him with a smile, eyes completely white and pupil-less, and Alec felt his skin crawl. It was like biting into an apple to find it rotten on the inside. 

She was standing in front of an altar littered with bundles of herbs and bowls of strange, foul things. Alec thought he might have interrupted her in the middle of a ritual. Jonathan moved to stand beside her, and at once Alec was struck by how similar they looked - sharp cheekbones, pointed face, the curve to their lips when they smiled. 

"Clary is my sister," Jonathan explained, guessing the reason for Alec's expression. "Lilith brought my sister back to me, and together we will make you pay for killing my father." 

"I don't have time for this," Alec muttered, and waved his arm, flinging Jonathan aside - he hit his head on the wall with a satisfying crack and didn't move after that. Another push with his mind, and Alec knocked Lilith off her feet, pinning her to the base of the altar.

Lilith laughed, a clear mocking sound that set Alec's teeth on edge. "You let him turn you into a freak, and then he abandoned you." 

Alec scowled, the splayed fingers on his outstretched hand closing into a fist, and Lilith made a pained choking sound for a few minutes before she seemed to catch her breath. "Oh, you're strong, but you're not strong enough for this. It's all been for nothing. You just don't have the guts for it - you're weak." 

"We'll have to agree to disagree," Alec snarled, and _twisted_. 

This time, Lilith actually screamed, her body lighting up from the inside like a lantern. Alec faltered - this had never happened with any of the other demons before - but when Lilith sneered at him and opened her mouth to spew more insults at him, Alec gritted his teeth and clenched his fist even harder. Lilith threw her head back, light pouring out from her eyes and mouth, then suddenly slumped forward like a puppet that had had its strings cut.

Alec froze for a moment, not daring to believe that it was really over, then quickly dashed to Clary's side. There was blood running from her eyes, ears, nose, and mouth, but she was still breathing.

"Clary?" Alec shook her gently, and her eyes fluttered open, much to his relief.

"Who...?"  

"I'm Alec. Izzy's brother. Do you remember Izzy? I'll get you out of here and to a hospital, everything is going to be ok," he told her soothingly as he gathered her into his arms, feeling a little giddy, like the ground beneath his feet was tilting on its axis. 

Then there was a rumbling sound, and Alec realised to his horror that he hadn't been feeling giddy - the floor underneath his feet was shaking, the altar behind him was shaking. And worst of all, the sigil that had been etched into the side of the altar was starting to glow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, first of all *BIG GROUP HUG* because I'm sure it's been a tough week with the news of the cancellation. Just wanted you guys to know that no matter what happens to the show, as long as you guys want to read this, I will keep writing it. (And sorry if I'm not the best at responding to comments, because sometimes the only response I can think of is spoilery :P You guys are sweet and I appreciate all of you!)
> 
> Lots of love to you all, stay strong Shadowfam.


	18. End of the Beginning

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _Is this the end of the beginning?_   
>  _Or the beginning of the end?_   
>  _Losing control or are you winning?_   
>  _Is your life real or just pretend?_
> 
> [_"End of the Beginning", Black Sabbath_ ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0W91FrTlYk)

 

 

Alec reacted on pure instinct, picking Clary up in a fireman's carry despite her feeble protests and running as fast as he could to put as much distance as he could between them and the glowing altar. The floor was shaking beneath his feet, and he stumbled a little from the extra weight and from the exhaustion from killing Lilith - he could feel the shivers starting to set in, the way they always did when he ran out of power from Magnus' blood.

He had barely gotten them halfway down the corridor when there was a pulse of energy from the altar behind him, sending him to his knees and making him nearly drop Clary. He glanced backwards and saw that the light was seeping through the seams and cracks in the marble, looking like the whole thing might blow apart at any moment. Then the light grew impossibly brighter and so, so cold.  

"Close your eyes!" Alec warned Clary, curling his body around her to shield her from the blinding light just as it burst outwards with a deafening screech. 

Alec cried out in agony when it hit his back. It was like being pressed against ice, burning his skin through his shirt and jacket. His teeth were rattling in his skull from the force of it, pieces of the ceiling raining down on them and hitting his shoulders and the back of his neck. As the building began to crumble around them, Alec thought he heard the _thing_ that was in the light laughing. 

 

 

"Alec? Alec, wake up, please, you're scaring me."

Alec frowned. He hurt all over, but his head was pillowed on something soft and warm, and someone was gently running a hand through his hair. 

"Mum?" he croaked. Except there was something wrong with that thought...  

The hand faltered; Alec forced his eyes open. His head was in Izzy's lap, because of course it hadn't been Maryse Lightwood (because she was dead, they were all dead - Maryse and Robert and Hodge and Magnus, and soon he'd be dead too). His sister looked like she was on the verge of tears again. He seemed to be the cause of her tears far too often lately - he really had to do better. 

"What happened?" he mumbled. 

"We were waiting by the car when the whole building began to glow, and a pillar of white light shot out through the roof. Jace and Simon went in to get you and Clary out," Izzy said softly. 

She helped him to sit up, despite Alec's protests over her wounded arm, and Alec glanced back to the old church. Most of the lower floor was still intact, but the roof was gone, including the teetering bell tower. A few feet away, Clary was sitting on the grass sobbing into Simon's shoulder. Ragnor and Jace were getting the cars ready to leave, and he noticed that Ragnor's arm was in a hasty sling. None of this had gone as planned. Lilith's death wasn't the triumph that he'd been expecting - he'd obviously freed something from that altar, something far more terrible than the first demon. And worst of all was the hollow, nagging feeling in his gut that something horrible had happened to Magnus. 

"We're going to have to make a stop at the hospital," Jace came up to them to say.

Alec frowned. "You mean for Izzy and Ragnor, I hope. I don't need a hospital." Besides, if they did any blood tests or the like, he was sure his blood was going to show up as being really odd, and they didn't need to draw attention to themselves.

"Nah, we've taken care of Izzy's wound on our own and Ragnor refuses to go to a hospital for 'just' a fractured forearm," Jace replied. "But we need a doctor for Clary. She, uh, can't see." 

"What do you mean...?" Alec asked, heart sinking. Was it something he'd done when he'd killed Lilith while she was still possessing Clary? Jace could only shrug helplessly. 

"But we're not splitting up, right?" Izzy said anxiously. 

"Doesn't make sense for us to all go trooping to the hospital. I'll take Simon and Clary in our car, you two are with Ragnor. The hospital is like fifteen minutes away from Ragnor's place. We'll be right behind," Jace promised.

Alec regretted the seating arrangements as soon as he got in the car. While Izzy seemed supportive despite Alec's relapse to drinking Magnus' blood, he could tell that Ragnor was livid.  

"Spit it out," he told Ragnor quietly, before he put the car in gear. "I know you have plenty to say about me going behind everybody's backs to work with Magnus."

"If I said anything, would you listen?" Ragnor asked icily. "Always with this self-sacrificing nonsense, not caring about how your loved ones would feel when they found out. You and Magnus were truly made for each other." He refused to speak another word on the six-hour drive back.  

"I know you and Simon both believe that Magnus is on the side of the good, but all of it seems really suspicious. Did Magnus trick us into freeing the thing that was trapped inside the building?" Izzy asked him. 

"Magnus wouldn't do that to me," Alec insisted quietly, ignoring Ragnor's derisive snort. What he didn't say out loud, was that if Magnus' goal was to stop the Apocalypse, then there was no way he would have sent Alec in there if he had known what killing Lilith would do. The more he thought about it, the more it made sense - a growing suspicion that he'd had since the light had touched him: the thing that he'd freed had been the Devil himself.

 

 

They were exhausted when they finally reached the church, but there was still so much to do - they had to change the dressing for Izzy's wound before she could set Ragnor's arm properly, and they had to discuss their next move. Alec was thankful that he'd gotten them all back in one piece though, because the shivers had gotten bad enough that he was starting to wonder if he really should be driving. He suspected that if Magnus remained elusive, he would have to spend quite some time in Ragnor's panic room sweating through his withdrawal from his blood. 

Except that there was a child sitting on the steps of the church outside the locked doors, a preteen boy with dirty blond hair that was a little too long, such that the ends were curling at his collar and the fringe was in his eyes. He stood up when they approached, and Alec's heart caught in his throat - _Max_.

Or was it Lucifer, wearing their baby brother's face? 

But he seemed just as shocked to see them, eyes wide and mouth hanging open in surprise. Alec could feel Izzy practically vibrating with the urge to run towards Max, but they were at a stand-off - all four of them staring at each other uncertainly. Alec put a hand on Izzy's shoulder to stop her from going nearer, but she shrugged it off.  

Then Max's expression hardened. "You're not real. You can't fool me." He flattened himself against the doors of the church, eyes darting around looking for an escape route. "This is a church! You lot can't come near it!" 

"Oh, Max, we're real, I promise it's really us," Izzy said tearfully. She showed him her bandaged arm. "See? I can get hurt. I can bleed." 

Max shook his head stubbornly. "They told me that you were dead, that everyone was dead."

"Your favourite comic is a Japanese manga called _Angel Sanctuary._ You dressed up as one of the characters for Halloween and I helped you to make the wings with feathers from one of my pillows, and Mum had a fit," Izzy said softly, taking a few steps forward until she was close enough to put a foot on the lowest step.  

Max stared at her foot, then his gaze flickered to Alec. "He said you were going to kill me."

"Who?" Alec frowned. 

Max took a deep breath. "It looked like Mum, but I knew it wasn't, because there'd been this bright white light when it appeared. He said that I was special, that I had been chosen, and all I had to do was say 'yes'. Because even if I didn't, you'd kill me to make sure that I wouldn't be able to."

"But you didn't?" Alec asked, already edging towards Izzy in case it had all just been a very good act. 

"Of course I said 'no'," Max said with all the arrogant impatience of a teenager. "I know better than to say 'yes' to some weird creepy thing claiming to be the devil!"  

Izzy let out a cry of delight and ran up the steps to hug Max, who hesitated for a split second before hugging her back tightly, his face crumpling as he started to cry.  

"At least it sounds like one of you has _some_ sense," Ragnor muttered. 

"But Magnus said that they'd been brainwashing Max, and feeding him demon blood," Alec said in a low voice to Ragnor, torn between wanting to believe that they'd gotten Max back by some miracle, and deep skepticism that anything this good would happen to them without a hefty price. "Besides, how did he get here?" 

 

 

In the end they decided that they were all too exhausted, and explanations could wait until the rest of their ragtag crew came back from the hospital. Alec shut himself in the panic room as a precaution, and the next morning their meeting was held in there over waffles and cheeseburgers and milkshakes that Jace had gone out specially to get in celebration of Max's return, eaten while sitting in the middle of the most elaborate devil's trap Ragnor knew. Clary was conspicuously absent, refusing to talk to anybody, even Simon. The strangeness of the fact that they were all huddled in the crypt of a church with every inch of the walls covered in sigils didn't seem to faze Max, who was more interested in stuffing his face with food while Izzy plied him with more of his favourites - until she tried to hand him a chocolate milkshake, and he pushed it away in disgust. 

"What's the matter? You used to love these," Izzy asked in puzzlement.  

"The people who kidnapped me kept trying to feed me chocolate milkshakes with something disgusting mixed in them, as if I wouldn't be able to tell," Max said, making a face. "But they weren't too smart, so I managed to dump most of it down the toilet without them noticing."

Simon snorted, having decided to forgo breakfast for whiskey. "Wouldn't it be ironic if it turned out that Michael's vessel is more hopped up on demon blood than Lucifer's vessel?"

"Was that what they really were? Demons?" Max asked curiously. "I thought I had been abducted by aliens at first, because of the eyes. But they kept talking about Hell and Lucifer and the Apocalypse. And they were weird, but they all pretty much left me alone - gave me books and video games, anything I wanted, as long as I didn't try to run."  

"So how _did_ you get away from them?" Alec asked.

"After I said 'no' to the thing that was pretending to be Mum, the white light kind of... screamed, and vanished. And they were all pretty mad at me, so they didn't notice the other guy coming in through the door. I knew he wasn't human either, because he flung them all around and did this thing where he could make them drop to the floor if he touched their foreheads, but maybe there were too many of them and he ran out of magic. So when a new wave of them came in, he just said, 'Tell Alexander I'm sorry,' and then he touched my shoulder and I found myself here." 

The room fell away, and there was a roaring sound in his head as Alec made sense of what Max had told them. Magnus hadn't come to help them kill Lilith because he'd gone to rescue Max - and the all-powerful Prince of Hell had run out of magic because he had given it all to Alec, weakened by the blood he had lost.

"The visions-" he turned to Simon desperately, but Simon shook his head, looking almost as stricken as he felt. 

"Radio silence. Sorry, man." 

Alec felt Izzy place a hand on his, squeezing gently. "That doesn't have to mean anything," Izzy said bracingly. "Simon doesn't have visions of every minute of Magnus' life. Perhaps something will come up later." 

"Let me get this straight - so when Alec killed Lilith, he actually freed Lucifer?" Jace asked. "And now that Max has said 'no' to him, what happens? Is the Apocalypse over?"

Ragnor cleared his throat. "It seems we have more questions than answers at this point, and I am almost certain that none of the books I have will help." 

"Then let's ask someone who probably knows," Simon said suddenly. 

"Who?" Ragnor frowned.

"I've got an archangel on my shoulder, right? Who better to ask about the Apocalypse?" Simon pointed out.

"And how do we summon him?" Izzy asked. "Is there a ritual for summoning angels?" 

"You don't summon an angel - you pray to them," Simon pointed out. He closed his eyes and clasped his hands in front of him; there was a fluttering sound, and they all turned to see Raphael at the doorway of the panic room, eyeing all the sigils with vague interest. 

"You said you were in danger, Prophet," Raphael said, frowning as he took in the group huddled together over the remains of their breakfast. 

"Yeah, well, apparently Lucifer is out and walking about, so I'd say I'm in danger - the whole world is," Simon said. 

"Alec Lightwood broke the final Seal, and now Lucifer walks," Raphael agreed.

"You know, I don't get you guys. So you knew that Lilith was the last Seal. But you didn't say anything!" Jace snarled. "Why couldn't you just have told us why you guys weren't killing her to stop her from breaking all the Seals?" 

"Because your brother shouldn't have been in the story at all," Raphael replied stonily. "Lilith was supposed to have been slain by the Righteous Man, and your brother is not him. Michael should have been there to see this through, to make sure the Righteous Man was at the right place, at the right time. But that is no matter now. Lilith's death has come to pass anyway."

"Then what was that nonsense about the angels fighting against the demons if you guys are basically just going through the motions and waiting for the Apocalypse to happen?" Jace demanded.

"We fought the demons because that is what we are supposed to do. Even if it was destined to be a futile fight," Raphael replied.

"So what do we do now? How can we put Lucifer back in Hell?" Izzy asked. 

"You can't. All that is left to do is for your brothers to accept the roles they were meant to play, and let God's plans play out, as they were meant to," Raphael said stiffly. 

"Well, it's a fucking _stupid_ plan," Jace snapped. 

"I think you are forgetting that I could smite you right where you are sitting. You should show me some respect," Raphael said through gritted teeth.  

"I think you're forgetting that respect is earned, feathers," Jace shot back.  

"Woah, hey guys, don't fight - same side, right?" Simon said, sounding slightly hysterical. "Nobody wants Hell on earth."

"Max told Lucifer 'no'. So what happens now that Lucifer doesn't have his true vessel?" Alec asked.

Raphael tore his gaze away from the staring match he'd been having with Jace. "Lucifer has found a temporary vessel for now, but he will keep trying. And if Max Lightwood continues to refuse his role, then he may turn his attentions to Isabelle Lightwood."

"And if _I_ say no?" Alec challenged. 

"You do not have the luxury of choice, Alec Lightwood," Raphael snapped, in a tone that Alec supposed was as close to panicking as an archangel got. "The war has begun and we don't have our general. When Michael comes to you, you _must_ say yes - without my brother leading the final charge against the Great Adversary, you will doom the whole world to hellfire."

"What about Magnus Bane?" Simon asked. "I mean, I was having all these visions about him, so I'm assuming he's important. But recently the visions have just stopped." 

"Then his part in the story is over," Raphael replied. 

"So you're saying he's dead?" Simon asked, but Raphael had vanished without a word. "...what the hell?" 

"Shit. This is a real mess," Jace muttered. "I mean, whoever wins, Michael or Lucifer, we're screwed. What do we do now?" 

Alec clenched his fist hard enough that his nails were digging into his palm. "Screw the plan. Screw them. Screw all of this. If the angels and demons want to fight, they can go and fight somewhere else, and leave all of us alone."

"And pray tell, what brilliant plan do you have in mind now?" Ragnor asked sarcastically.

"We'll kill the Devil. Heck, we'll kill Michael if we have to," Alec replied, the cogs in his brain churning, remembering - about something Magnus had said, about a weapon that was rumoured to be able to kill everything in existence. If Magnus had died trying to stop the Apocalypse, then Alec was going to continue the fight with everything he had. "But first, we need to find Samuel Colt's pistol."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, yes, please bear with my British spelling. It's just really weird for me to use "Mom" but have everything else still Brit, ok? :P


	19. Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _Call me any time_   
>  _Just ring_   
>  _36 24 36 hey_   
>  _I lead a life of crime_
> 
> [_"Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap", AC/DC_ ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=26wrvblgGP0)

 

 

Alec spent more than a month in the panic room this time, and Magnus was right - it had been bad the first time, but this time they'd had to strap him down to the bed within the first week because he'd started levitating himself. He'd cried and shouted himself hoarse, scratched at whatever he could reach until his nails had torn off completely, and whatever food or water Izzy, Jace, and Ragnor forced down his throat came straight back up. It was only when they'd managed to keep him lucid for increasing amounts of time that Jace confessed that they'd mixed some demon blood into his food and water so he wouldn't die from malnourishment.

"What?" Alec asked, aghast, stomach turning. He pushed away his half-finished cup of tomato soup. 

"Hey, man. Please," Jace said a little desperately. "It's just a little bit, ok? Ragnor summoned the demon into a trap, we tied it to a chair, took a little bit of blood and exorcised the demon. The guy was fine but we dropped him off at a hospital just in case. No harm done." 

"No. No more," Alec insisted. "What's the point of me going through this if I'm still going to be hooked?"

"The point is that you'd be _alive_ ," Jace replied. "Your vitals were going crazy. And this was just some garden variety demon, so its blood isn't as potent as Magnus'. You could come down from it slowly instead of going cold turkey."

"I'll be fine," Alec said stubbornly. 

"Dude, you are not fine, ok? It's not like you've had a chance to look into a mirror lately. You're practically skin and bones. Now drink your fucking soup before you have a heart attack or something," Jace said, nudging the cup back to Alec. 

Alec frowned, but eventually relented, taking another sip. "Any news?" 

"Simon still hasn't had any new visions, if that's what you're asking."

Alec nodded dully. It'd been a full month with no news, and Raphael had pretty much implied that Magnus wasn't in the picture anymore. Alec knew Ragnor had been trying to summon Magnus with the blood goblet, to no avail. He didn't want to believe it, but all evidence seemed to suggest that Magnus was dead. 

"Wait - if Magnus is gone, that means you're off the hook for the deal, right?" Jace asked suddenly. 

Alec honestly hadn't even considered that. "...I guess so?"  

"Well. Shit." Jace was trying hard not to grin and failing. "I mean, I get that it sucks, because you actually had feelings for the guy. But you're _free_."

He'd been living with the assumption that his life came with an expiry date of a few paltry months for so long that for a moment Alec couldn't wrap his head around it. Instead of weeks, now he had years - or at least as long as everyone else had, if they didn't manage to stop the Apocalypse. Except that the price he'd had to pay for getting all that time back had been losing Magnus.

Jace gave him a one-armed hug and thumped him on the back, still beaming, and nearly made him drop his horrible blood-spiked soup. "Finish that up, ok? Otherwise Izzy is going to kill me for telling you. You're looking a lot better, anyway - I think you should be ok by the end of the week."

Alec nodded dumbly, waited until Jace was well out of the room, then flushed his soup down the sink, appetite long fled. 

 

  

"So let me get this straight - for a whole month, everything has gone quiet?" Alec asked when he was finally well enough to leave the panic room. "Why hasn't Lucifer come knocking, looking for Max?" 

"Well, Lucifer hasn't exactly been idle," Izzy said, handing Alec her laptop to show him her notes. 

Izzy's dedicated researching had turned up some odd news in the past month: an entire town in Georgia had been wiped out by an unexpected resurgence of the bubonic plague; a small peaceful island in the Pacific had waged war on another small peaceful island; all the fish in a lake in South China had died overnight, leaving the surrounding populations suddenly deprived of a large food source; and the inhabitants of a small town in Europe had dropped dead overnight for no apparent reason. It appeared that the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse had already begun their reign. 

"That's four out of the seven signs of the Apocalypse," Izzy told him. "He's moving fast, and we're running out of time."

Ragnor nodded. "The good news is, we found out where Samuel Colt's pistol is. The bad news is, it's in the possession of a collector of rare magical and supernatural objects - Victor Aldertree. And that man is a snake."

"Meaning what? He's not going to give it to us even if it means preventing the end of the world?" Alec asked. "What kind of douchebag does that?"

"So how do we get the Colt? Steal it?" Jace asked.

"It appears we may have no other choice," Ragnor said.

 

 

"This is a bad idea," Alec grumbled from under the itchy afghan throw in the backseat.

"Yeah, we heard you - the first thirty-six times," replied Jace, who was also hiding under the blanket - at least until they got past the security camera at the gate.

"I'm not talking about the heist, I'm talking about letting Izzy drive."

"Relax. I've got this," Izzy said, straightening her dress and checking her hair and make-up in the rearview mirror.

She got the car in gear and slid it out smoothly from the turn in the road where they'd stopped over so they could all get in position, carefully navigating the narrow, bumpy road until they reached the imposing wrought iron gate. 

"Hi! I'm Daphne Kluger. We emailed about the rare book I found?" she said, smiling brightly at the camera of the video intercom buzzer. There was an indistinct answer over the intercom, and the well-oiled gates swung open.

There was a line of tall hedges along the drive just before they got in view of the house, so Izzy dropped them off there first.

"We'll message you once we've gotten the Colt," Jace said.  

"And call us if you run into trouble," Alec added. 

"You two are behaving as if we've never done this before," Izzy said, rolling her eyes, and drove off.  

Alec and Jace ducked through the hedge, and made their way round to the back of the ostentatious mansion. There were a couple of cameras, but no guards, which struck Alec as odd. Ragnor had described their target as some sort of multimillionaire with too much money to spare and a fascination with the occult, but a worldly and shrewd businessman. He was hardly the sort of oddball recluse who lived alone. At the very least, even if Victor Aldertree wasn't worried about his own security, Alec had expected household staff. 

Jace cut the camera wires and picked the lock of the backdoor since Alec's hands weren't quite so steady yet, and they got in without any trouble. Izzy had done some sleuthing talking to the secretaries and PAs of some of Aldertree's business associates, and had found out that there was some sort of private museum on the second floor, where Aldertree usually brought his guests around to look at his collection of curios. Aldertree's office was supposed to be on the first floor, near the entrance hallway, and as they made their way up the stairs, Alec thought he heard Izzy's voice in the room to the left. 

Izzy's information was sound - the whole of the second storey was full of glass cases containing strange items: the tooth of something monstrous stuck in a rock, something that looked like a desiccated human hand with a tarnished brass handle that allowed it to be carried like a lantern, and glass bottles with the preserved remains of supernatural creatures like imps and fairies. There were items that obviously reeked of dark magic as well: cursed objects encased in fortified boxes with glass covers, blood-stained weapons and jewellery, and even an altar dedicated to a little clay statue Alec thought might be a _toyol_ \- a supernatural artifact of Malay origin, where the body of an unborn child was sealed in clay and the spirit of the foetus was enslaved. 

"Don't try touch anything," Alec warned Jace.  

"Wasn't going to," Jace insisted, quickly withdrawing his hand from a very detailed model of a sailing ship. At the look on Alec's face, he huffed. "Come on, guy's a flake. Everything here must either be already properly warded or a dud, otherwise he'd have gotten himself killed ages ago."

"I wouldn't be so sure. I think he knows what he's doing," Alec said, eyeing the blood smeared on the mouth on the _toyol_. They'd been so intent on concentrating on physical and electronic security measures and traps, that they'd overlooked the supernatural ones. 

He wracked his brain trying to remember what he could from the book on Southeast Asian black magic that he'd read mainly because Ragnor had told him it had once belonged to Magnus. _Toyols_ were disturbed spirits, somewhere between a demon and a ghost, and they could be just mischievous tricksters or powerful enough to kill someone, depending on how long they'd been bound and the skill of the witch doctor that had bound the spirit. He knew they had to be fed, like a pet, and that they were loyal to whoever's blood they fed on. The only problem was, he was pretty sure the lore said that they couldn't be killed - they could only be put to rest by the one that had made them.

"Ouch! What the fuck...?" Jace suddenly yelped, spinning around. "Something bit my ankle!" 

"I think Aldertree has a spirit guarding this place," Alec said. 

"Oh, fuck. Then let's grab the stupid gun we came for and get out of here quick," Jace said, rubbing his leg. 

"I'm pretty sure once we make a move to take it, it's going to pounce on us," Alec said grimly.

"If it's a ghost, we could shoot it with salt rounds," Jace suggested, looking around warily.

"Except that Izzy is downstairs with Aldertree - we were supposed to do this stealthily, remember? Aldertree could call the cops on us." 

"I'll message Izzy and tell her to get out," Jace decided, tapping on his phone. "Now let's get the Colt and worry about the rest later." 

They found the Colt in an open polished wooden box in a dark corner of the room. From the way it'd been stashed away so carelessly, Alec guessed that Aldertree hadn't known its true worth. The ancient pistol certainly wasn't much to look at, even though it'd been polished to a shine. There was a pentagram carved into the well-worn handle, and a Latin inscription on the side of the barrel: _non timebo mala_. Some slots had been added to the cover of the box for displaying the bullets, and Alec counted a total of thirteen bullets. 

"Ok, Izzy is out," Jace reported, cocking his own gun. "I've got you covered."

Alec nodded and quickly slammed the lid of the box shut before grabbing the box, and the _toyol_ appeared right in his face almost immediately. It looked like the corpse of a newborn baby, with mottled green-tinged skin and dull dead eyes, but its snarling mouth was full of pointed teeth, and its tiny hands were tipped with sharp nails. Alec ducked and Jace fired at it - it vanished before the bullet could hit its mark. 

"What the hell was that?!" Jace said in horror. "It looked like a dead baby!" 

"Basically, yeah," Alec said, shoving Jace ahead of him. "Come on, move!" 

They'd barely gone a few feet when Jace stumbled, tripping Alec as well. They went down hard, and Alec grunted when the box under his arm dug into his ribs. He felt it before he saw it, the chill of something hovering just behind his head. He rolled off Jace, holding the warded box in front of him like a shield, and only just managed to beat the spirit off before it clawed out his eyes. 

"Fucking thing tied my shoelaces together!" Jace spat out, desperately pulling at the tangle of knots.

The _toyol_ came at Alec again, teeth bared and hands outstretched, and when he fired at it at point blank range, it flickered out briefly. There were footsteps coming into the room now, and Alec didn't know if Aldertree was armed, but he didn't want to find out what other tricks he had up his sleeves. He took aim at the clay statue on the altar and fired - the statue shattered, and Alec caught a glimpse of something small and sad and shrivelled nestled inside the broken clay before the _toyol_ appeared on his chest.  

Up close, the creature was even more blood-curdling; blank black eyes clouded over, chubby baby cheeks twisted into an expression of malice. The _toyol_ froze with its hand barely an inch from Alec's face, then promptly disappeared. There was a loud yell of shock and pain from the man who had just entered the room. Alec grabbed Jace by the arm and hauled him to his feet, then pushed him towards a window Jace swung himself out, fingertips gripping the ledge, then let himself drop down into the bushes below. Alec threw the box containing the Colt out, and spared one last glance behind him - blood staining a crisp white dress shirt, the head of the creature at the neck of the man, and a horrifying slurping sound - then swung himself out and tried to land on his feet. Even with the bushes cushioning his fall, Alec felt the impact of the landing hard, wincing as a sharp pain shot through his knees.

"What the hell happened back there?" Jace demanded.  

"I set the spirit free, so it turned on its master,"  Alec explained. 

Jace had already recovered the box, and together they hobbled towards their car, where Izzy was waiting for them behind the wheel. Once they were safely in the back seat, she stepped on the pedal and got out of there like a bat out of hell, perfectly calm despite the way the car skidded and the tires screeched when she made all the turns a little too quickly. 

"I knew it! You _can_ drive!" Jace complained when they finally hit the highway, miles of straight, dark road stretching out ahead. 

"You failed your driving test three times on purpose?" Alec frowned in confusion. 

"My driving instructor was cute. I wanted to spend more time with him." Izzy shrugged and smirked at them through the rearview mirror. "Besides, what can I say - I like being chauffeured around. Anyway, you got the Colt?" 

"Yeah, we did," Jace confirmed.

"Great, because something I saw in Victor Aldertree's office gave me a brainwave. We've been going about this all wrong, waiting for him to come to us. It's time we brought the fight to him, and I think I know where we can find Lucifer," Izzy said. 

 

 


	20. Problem Child

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _See me comin' (get out of my way)_   
>  _Step aside_   
>  _Or pay the price_   
>  _What I want I take_   
>  _What I don't I break_
> 
> [_"Problem Child", AC/DC_ ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8LlGt5d_640)

 

 

"Look, Clary and Max will be fine with me. If anything nasty comes at us, Raphael will appear and smite the shit out of it," Simon said.

They were all crowded in Ragnor's living room - Clary on the couch between Izzy and Simon, Ragnor in the stiff leather chair behind a very cluttered desk, Max in the armchair and Jace perched on the side of it, and Alec leaning against the bookshelf. The living room looked like some sort of refugee centre, with bags of clothing and belongings everywhere and a small mountain of sleeping bags in the corner. The rectory was pretty big for one guy but tiny for seven, especially since nobody dared to use the spare bedroom that had once been Magnus'. In the mornings when everyone was just waking up, it was almost impossible to get through the living room without accidentally stepping on someone's fingers or hair, and the queue for the washroom was starting to remind Alec of living in student dorms when he'd been in college a lifetime ago. Ragnor must hate all of them so much.

"Is he still the Prophet if he hasn't been having any visions?" Alec asked. 

"Raphael did come the last time he prayed to him," Jace pointed out. "I mean, I'm no fan of the guy, but if we all go together, we'll be bringing Max straight to Lucifer. This way, even if we screw up, at least you guys will be safe."

"But what about Izzy? The angel said that if Lucifer couldn't get Max, he'd come after her," Clary said worriedly.

"I'll be fine," Izzy insisted, but Alec pounced on the opportunity to dissuade her.

"Clary's right. You're Lucifer's back-up vessel. It's not smart."

"We've been through this," Izzy said angrily. "We're going up against the Devil himself, you need all hands on deck. Are you saying that Max is strong enough to say 'no', but I'm not?"

"No, of course not," Alec said. "I'm saying you're older and you've been through more, which means Lucifer has more buttons he can press."

"Um, so I was wondering, how sure are we that Lucifer is going to be in Stull Cemetery tomorrow night?" Simon cut in, obviously trying to diffuse the argument that had been cropping up constantly since Izzy had suggested confronting Lucifer on their own terms.  

Izzy and Alec were still locked in a staring match, but at a nudge from Clary, Izzy replied a little impatiently, "Like I've said, all the urban legends have a grain of truth in them. Stull Cemetery is supposed to be a gateway to Hell, and even the Pope rerouted his plane so that he wouldn't have to fly over it. Besides, there've been omens in the area all around it for weeks - rain of blood, mutated livestock, and a serpent that hatched from a chicken's egg. I didn't make the connection until I saw that woodcut from the Koren Bible in Victor Aldertree's office." 

"Well, I'm disappointed we're not the first ones to come up with the illustrated gospel," Simon joked, nudging Clary. Clary gave him a small smile - she'd been trying to draw again, determined not to let the fact that she couldn't see anymore get in the way of her living her life.  

Izzy gave Clary's hand a little squeeze before continuing. "That altar in the image for the Fifth Seal of the Apocalypse is definitely the same one as the altar that used to stand in the church in Stull Cemetery. I've seen the photos." 

"Every hunter worth his salt has checked out Stull Cemetery at least once, of course," Ragnor said. "The church was demolished and the hanging tree was chopped down years ago. Used to be that every Halloween you'd see dozens of idiot tourists at the gates of the cemetery, hoping to catch a glimpse of the Devil at midnight."

"Except this Halloween is different. Lucifer is actually walking the earth now," Clary said. "What happens when the Fifth Seal breaks?"  

"I don't know, but I'm worried about _how_ he's going to break it," Izzy said. "The Bible says that there will be souls of the faithful under the altar...?" She looked towards Ragnor, and he nodded in agreement. 

"The Fifth Seal is the martyring of the saints. It may be that Lucifer needs to commit some sort of ritual murder on Halloween to break the Fifth Seal," he said.  

"I miss when Halloween meant candy and stupid costumes, not Satan and ritual murder," Max muttered. 

"You and me both, buddy," Simon said gloomily. 

"If we get there in time, do you think we could save the people Lucifer means to kill as well?" Alec asked. 

"Always nice to have an optimist around," Ragnor scoffed. "Well, I think it's time for all the children to go to bed. Tomorrow we hunt the Devil."

 

 

Alec first had an inkling something was wrong when they stopped for gas at a place called Winchester, half an hour from Stull Cemetery. He had to fight to keep his face blank when he went in to pay for snacks and gas and saw the face of the guy behind the cash register, then brisk-walked back to the car and stepped on the pedal.

"Alec, what's wrong?" Izzy asked.

"Demon," Alec answered, voice tight. "The guy at the gas station was a demon." 

"How did you know? He showed you his peepers?" Jace asked, frowning.

"I don't know why, but... I could see his face. His real face, under the human one," Alec said.  

"Is it because of Magnus' blood?" Izzy asked. 

"No. It's never happened to me before, even when I was all hopped up when we went to kill Lilith," Alec replied.

Ragnor sighed. "You _idiot_. Turn us back around."

"What?" Alec turned to him in surprise.

"Do you honestly think all of Heaven and Hell doesn't know who you lot are? Michael's vessel, and Lucifer's back-up vessel?" Ragnor asked. "He's obviously planted demons within the area to keep an eye out for us. Next time if a demon spots you and you know it's a demon, for God's sake kill it before it goes tattling back to Lucifer!" 

But when they went back to the gas station, the guy behind the counter was already dead.

"Blast. There goes our element of surprise," Ragnor sighed.

"So are we still going ahead with the plan?" Jace asked.

"Do we have a choice? Right now, we know where Lucifer is going to be and we have the Colt. If we don't stop Lucifer now, God knows when we'll have another opportunity," Ragnor replied. "Besides, with every Seal he breaks, the closer we get to the End Times." 

"And then Michael's going to come for me," Alec muttered.  

"Hey, do you think that's why you can see the demon faces now?" Jace wondered.  

"What, I accidentally said 'yes' to an angel without noticing?"

"Yeah, no, that doesn't make sense..." Jace said, scratching the back of his head.

Izzy took a deep breath. "We're doing this. Even if our chances are slim, we've got to try."

"Of course," Ragnor agreed. "After all, all we need is one lucky shot."

 

 

For what was supposedly one of the world's most haunted and cursed places, Stull Cemetery was surprisingly peaceful. Gentle rolling hills were dotted with grave markers of different shapes and sizes, and everything was tinted blue now that they were at that brief point between sunset and twilight. There were tourists crawling over the long road leading to Stull Cemetery, and dozens of police cars and police officers standing guard to block them from entering the cemetery grounds - except that they were all demons. They didn't even need Alec's newfound superpower to tell them this, because the moment their car arrived, every single face was turned towards them with slightly hostile expressions. 

"Fuck. It's like three dozen of them to four of us," Jace muttered.

But the demons weren't attacking. They watched Alec's car go by, the harsh glare from the headlights illuminating their faces such that Alec felt like they were jumping out at him. Behind the car an odd procession was forming, blocking their way out - there was no choice but to go forward.  

They were roughly halfway down the road that ran through the cemetery when their way ahead was blocked by another wall of human bodies. 

"Do we get out? Seems like a bad idea to get out," Jace said.

"The alternative is being trapped inside here like rats," Alec pointed out. He cut the engine, plunging them into near darkness. 

They stepped out of the car gingerly, weapons at ready. They had guns filled with devil's trap bullets, one demon-killing knife, and a magical gun with thirteen precious bullets tucked safely in Ragnor's pocket, since he was a good shot with the added advantage of being most likely to be ignored by Lucifer. But even that seemed useless in the face of the hordes of demons surrounding them. 

"The ruins of the church are just over there," Ragnor said.  

There was barely any natural light to see by now, but Alec thought he could make out a group of silhouettes standing on what looked like a flat rectangle of concrete. 

"On three," Alec suggested, and his siblings braced themselves, ready to shoot their way through if they had to.

Just then, there was a ripple of movement, and the crowd silently parted for someone who was coming towards them. When he saw who it was, Alec's heart skipped a beat.  

"Hello, darling," Magnus said softly.  

Magnus looked exactly as Alec remembered him, perfectly put together; except that now Alec could see his true face as well. It was a decayed, deformed parody of a human face, Magnus' features only just barely recognisable. And it hurt to look at it, not because it was monstrous, but because Alec could see how much pain and fear Magnus must have been through in Hell. 

"Come. He's been expecting you," Magnus said, beckoning them.  

"Magnus, what's going on? Where have you been?" Alec asked in a low voice, but Magnus ignored him and continued to lead them through the crowd of demons and up the hill towards the ruins of the church that had once stood there.  

There wasn't much left of the church, mostly its stone foundations and a charred altar. At first, Alec thought the rest of the space had been filled with statues, but as they drew closer he realised they were living, breathing humans, standing stock-still and turned towards the altar with blank faces. There was a man carving something into the surface of the altar, and when Magnus lit some torches around the place with a snap of his fingers, Alec heard his siblings gasp sharply. 

"Jonathan?" Jace asked.  

Jonathan looked up and smiled. "Not quite." 

Alec had to say that Jonathan was not looking too good. His long blond hair was limp and dull, blue eyes fever-bright and bloodshot, and there were blisters and sores visible on his face and hands, raw and weeping pus. 

"Oh my god," Izzy whispered, catching on.  

"Do _not_ speak that name around here," Lucifer said, frowning. 

"Jonathan said 'yes' to you," Alec said. 

"He didn't just say 'yes'," Lucifer said cheerfully. "He _wooed_ me - prayed to me, volunteered to host me. As long as I promised that I would drag his sister down to Hell to be with him. Oh, and killed all of you to avenge his father. I know he is not my true vessel, but I must admit I am really enjoying the pleasure of Jonathan's company." Lucifer smiled and tapped the side of his head. "He is so... _inventive_. And it's always nice to have your host working with you, instead of against you. Teamwork, you know - so underrated. Unfortunately, Jonathan is wearing a bit thin. He can't contain me forever. Still, when I am done with this body, Jonathan is going straight to Hell - and let me tell you, he's going to rise through the ranks really quickly. I'll see to it personally."

"It's almost time," Magnus interrupted. 

"Oh, of course. Thanks for the reminder." Lucifer held up a finger and smiled briefly at them. "Just give me a moment, I have a ritual to complete," Lucifer said casually, and turned his attention back to the altar. 

Quick as a flash, Ragnor had the Colt out. He fired a shot into the back of Lucifer's head, and Lucifer collapsed face down onto the altar. Magnus' eyes went to the gun in Ragnor's hand, but his face remained impassive - no joy or anger. All around them, the demons and human statues didn't react either. Alec held his breath, eyes on Lucifer's prone form, hardly daring to hope - then Lucifer groaned and pushed himself up from the table. 

"Owww," he complained. "That wasn't a very nice thing to do, shooting someone in the back."

"Oh _fuck_ ," Jace muttered. 

Lucifer frowned at them and the gun in Ragnor's hand, rubbing the back of his head. "Unfortunately for you, there're only five things in all of creation that that gun can't kill, and I just happen to be one of them. Magnus, could you please take care of your friends?"

Magnus nodded and snapped his fingers, and immediately Alec found that he couldn't move at all.

"What did you do to Magnus?" Alec asked him.

Lucifer didn't look up from what he was working on, but answered in a conversational tone, "You see, I saw all the potential my sort-of nephew Magnus here had; how close he'd been to you, how important he was to you still. It was a real pity that all that potential was being buried under his memories of what it felt like to be human - so I took care of it. Or rather, being tortured in Hell for an extra decade or two by Hell's best torturers did. It's like... what do you people call it? A refresher course. And now he's a new man. Demon. Whatever."

Alec would sooner eat his own shoe than believe that Lucifer had really managed to torture the humanity out of Magnus. He tried to catch Magnus' eye, hoping that Magnus could give him a hint of what his plan was, but Magnus simply smiled at him. It wasn't a very reassuring smile. 

It took Lucifer a few hours to carve the altar - it appeared that he was removing all the charred bits and replacing the markings that had been damaged. And while he worked, he couldn't seem to stop talking, even if none of them responded. 

"You people misunderstand me," he said. "You call me 'the Great Deceiver', but... Do you know my crime? I loved God too much. He asked us to love mankind as we loved him, but I couldn't do it. And just for that, he betrayed me - punished me. I thought you lot of all people would understand. He tore your family apart just so you could all fit into his silly little story, and we could all play our roles like puppets. That's why I want to find him - hold him accountable for his actions. Just because he created us doesn't mean he can toy with us, like playthings."

When Lucifer was done, he brushed his hands off and walked behind the altar. He gestured at the blank-faced people.  

" _Lamed Vav Tzadikim_ \- it's Hebrew, means 'the thirty-six righteous ones'," Lucifer said, then looked at Ragnor. "I know you're probably Catholic or something boring like that, but is the good Father familiar with the Jewish concept?"

Ragnor had kept up his stoic expression despite the disappointment of the Colt not working. Lucifer made an encouraging hand gesture at him, and he finally quoted, " _And the Lord said, If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare all the place for their sakes_."

"You're right. You're absolutely right," Lucifer beamed. "Because these thirty-six saints exist, God would preserve the world even if the rest of humanity degenerated to total corruption."

Lucifer raised his hands and began to chant. Alec glanced at Magnus, who was standing to one side. If he had a plan to stop this, now was his last chance to act - but Magnus was simply watching the proceedings. Lucifer finished his chant; one by one, the people standing flashed gold and crumpled to the floor. Alec half expected thunder and lightning, but the night sky remained clear and quiet. 

"Well, oops. Guess I just threw away humanity's 'Get Out of Jail Free' card. Bit of an anticlimax, I know," Lucifer said, then looked at Izzy. "I don't suppose you'll save me the trouble and just say 'yes' here and now?"

"Never," Izzy spat. 

"Pity. I guess I'll have to stick to little Max," Lucifer said. "Just one last thing, then. I did promise Jonathan that I would kill all of you on his behalf. And Jonathan has just suggested - and I agree - that I could have Magnus do it for me instead. What do you think, Magnus?"

"As you wish," Magnus replied nonchalantly.

"Capital! I'll leave you in Magnus' capable hands," Lucifer smiled and gave them an ironic little bow, then vanished. 

 

 


	21. Back In Black

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _I got nine lives, cat's eyes_   
>  _Abusin' every one of them and running wild_   
>  _'Cause I'm back_   
>  _Yes, I'm back_   
>  _I'm back in black_
> 
> [_"Back In Black", AC/DC_ ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAgnJDJN4VA)

 

 

Alec looked uncertainly at Magnus. They were still frozen in place, and surrounded by demons - they were completely at his mercy, but a large part of Alec was still hoping that Magnus had just been bluffing for Lucifer's benefit. Magnus snapped his fingers, and suddenly they could move again - and Alec let out a sigh of relief. 

"It was foolish of you to come here," Magnus said.

"Magnus?" Alec took a tentative step forward. 

"Did you actually think you could kill Lucifer?" Magnus asked. "You're just humans." 

"You've got a better plan?" Jace asked. 

Magnus raised an eyebrow at Jace. "Excuse me?"

"Well, you're the all-powerful Prince of Hell. Maybe we can't do it alone, but with you in our corner-" 

"Whoever said I was going to help you?" Magnus asked scornfully.

Jace floundered in confusion. "But you just let us go!" 

Magnus shrugged. "The chase is part of the fun."

Alec was still trying to wrap his head around what Magnus was saying, but Ragnor had already lifted the Colt and aimed it at Magnus, only to have Magnus send it flying out of Ragnor's hand with a lazy flick of his wrist - it skidded across the grass and slid down the slope, out of sight. The circle of demons around them was closing in and there was no cover around save for the gravestones. Alec knew that their best bet would probably be to get to the car and get the hell out of here, to some place where they could hole up and think of an alternative plan, but he couldn't let it go - couldn't let Magnus go. 

"Magnus, you don't have to do this," Alec said, fighting to keep the desperation out of his voice.

"Of course I do. My Master has commanded it," Magnus replied. "But don't worry - I'm going to kill the rest of them, but not you."

"Why?" Alec asked, feeling sick.

"We had a deal, remember? If you die before your time is up, you're still due for Hell but you won't be mine. I can wait," Magnus said.

Oh, fuck. The deal. Magnus wasn't dead, so that deal Alec had made with him was still in effect - which meant that... 

Magnus smiled at Alec. "You have four days before the hellhounds come for you. But after you've watched your friend and siblings get torn limb from limb, every bone in their bodies broken and strung up by their own guts to die, those four days are going to feel like four lifetimes."

Alec stumbled backwards, eyes wide and still fixed on Magnus. This was worse than Magnus being dead. He'd only ever known Magnus as a demon, but this was different - there was something colder about him now, his usual teasing demeanour replaced with plain cruelty. Alec was vaguely aware of Izzy's hand on his arm, tugging him back to reality.

"Now!" Ragnor shouted, and all of them started firing into the circle of demons, clearing a narrow path towards the car.

They ran as fast as they could and scrambled into the car, slamming doors on grabbing hands hard enough that Alec thought he might have broken a few fingers. Ragnor stepped on the accelerator, running down any demon that dared to stand in their way while Izzy and Jace winced in the backseat every time a body hit their windscreen. The tires of the car screeched as Ragnor weaved from side to side, trying to throw off a demon that had managed to grab on to the roof. Izzy wound down a window and threw some holy water at the demon, and it let go with a blood-curdling shriek, tumbling into the darkness behind them.

Their ears were ringing in the sudden silence, all of them breathing hard as the car sped down the lonely dark road. 

"Where are we going now?" Jace asked. 

"We need some place small enough that the four of us can defend it easily, and far away from other people to reduce collateral damage," Ragnor said.

"Alec, are you ok?" Izzy asked him gently, and Alec nodded once, jerkily. This wasn't a conversation he wanted to have right now - or possibly not ever - but he supposed he had no choice now that Magnus had become their worst enemy.  

"Looks like we've lost our double agent, huh?" Jace said. 

"Do you think this is why Simon hasn't been having any new visions of Magnus? Because he _isn't_ Magnus anymore?" Izzy wondered. 

"Maybe he's still inside there somewhere," Jace said hopefully. "After all, he was already a demon before and he still helped us."

Ragnor snorted. "Surely even you can tell that he's not the same as before. A Magnus that follows orders and calls anybody 'my master' without irony is not Magnus. No, he's well and truly gone." 

"But we can't be sure! Lucifer said Magnus had been tortured for decades, but before that he'd already been a demon for hundreds of years and there was still enough human in him. Maybe if we managed to get him away from Lucifer's influence for a while, we could get him back," Jace insisted.

"Well, there's no point talking about 'what if's now. We _have_ to kill Magnus, to free Alec from his deal," Izzy said firmly. 

"Shit, you're right," Jace muttered, rubbing his face with a hand. 

"Except that I'm still not sure if the knife will work on him, and I've lost the Colt," Ragnor said unhappily. 

"Let's just focus on getting out of this. The rest of it can wait," Alec interrupted them. 

"No, it really can't," Izzy said fiercely, daring him to argue with her. 

"For once, I agree with Alec. We need to get the demons off our tail first. As for Alec's deal, I have been researching ways to keep the hellhounds at bay, though I'd hoped that we wouldn't need to use them after all," Ragnor admitted grudgingly.

"Thank you," Alec said quietly. 

"Don't thank me yet, I'm not sure they'll work," Ragnor said gruffly. 

Jace cleared his throat, tapping on his phone. "So, uh, abandoned chapel, two miles away." 

"Let's do this," Alec said. 

 

 

They had just finished lining the doorways and windows of the chapel with salt when the first demon appeared outside the gate of the rundown, two-storey building. The windows of the chapel had been boarded shut, but some of the wood had rotted away, so the four hunters could peek outside without exposing themselves to attack. It seemed like all the demons that had been at Stull Cemetery had gathered here, standing completely motionless at the boundary of the hallowed ground that they could not cross. The last one to arrive was Magnus, strolling through the throng of demons with his usual easy grace. 

Alec held his breath when Magnus approached the gate, but Magnus didn't hesitate when he stepped over the property line, the hallowed ground apparently having no effect on him. Then a handful of demons broke away from the group and followed Magnus past the gate and across the small front yard.

"Shit. He brought reinforcements - stronger demons," Jace muttered. 

Alec counted seven of them, and when they drew closer, he was shocked to realise that he recognised some of them, or at least the people they were possessing. 

"Wait, that's Lydia Branwell - your girlfriend in high school from when you weren't out yet," Izzy said in surprise. 

"And Meliorn, the annoying dickwad you dated in college," Alec muttered.

"And those are all people I dated - Lindsay, Jordan, Kaelie. Well, I don't think I know the last two," Jace said. 

"Elias and Dorothea. They're a hunter couple that we were friendly with," Ragnor said grimly. "Magnus got demons to possess people we knew, so that we'd find it harder to kill them."

"But how did he know about _our_ exes?" Izzy asked, puzzled. 

"I may have, um, mentioned them to him at some point," Alec said a little guiltily. At his siblings' incredulous stares, he said defensively, "What? It wasn't just sex and blood. We talked." 

"Damnit, Alec. Of all the people in the world to try to build a deep, meaningful relationship with," Jace complained.  

"Alright, enough squabbling. We're going to have to rethink this - I think we can guess who's going for who," Ragnor said.

The layout of the chapel was simple: the first floor was the big main hall with a small office to the left, which they elected to ignore, and a narrow stairwell led to simple living quarters on the second floor and a bell tower right at the top. They agreed to split up - Alec with Jace, and Ragnor with Izzy - and each team took one of the rooms on the second floor.

There were a few traps laid out on the first floor, and as Alec waited, he heard the screams as the demons tripped them: bucket of holy water over the main door, devil's trap under the rotting carpet in the stairwell, trip wire hooked up to more holy water. The first one in through the door of the room they were hiding in got a devil's trap bullet to the shoulder and went down, and was pushed aside by the demons wearing Lydia and Kaelie. Both Alec and Jace tried to get in another shot, but their guns were ripped out of their hands, and Jace was thrown across the room - he hit the wall with a sickening crunch and didn't get up. The demon possessing Lydia waved her hand a second time, and Alec thought he saw a flicker of unease on their faces when it had absolutely no effect on him.

Alec tried to hide his surprise. He knew all those weeks of drinking Magnus' blood had taken a toll on his body, and maybe he would never be free of its influence, but if it made him immune to demonic powers, he supposed it was worth it. He held out a hand, palm up and fingers splayed, hoping he could bluff his way through this, but the demons only laughed.

"You might still have enough juice that we can't throw you, but we know you don't have enough to send us back," not-Lydia said with a smirk. 

She nodded at the other demon, and it made its way towards Jace as not-Lydia approached Alec. He managed to duck the first punch she threw at him and blocked the second with his forearm, but the third blow caught him around the ear so hard that he hit the floor. His head was still swimming when he got a swift kick to the gut that had him doubled over and coughing. 

"What's the matter? Too much of a gentleman to fight back?" she asked. "Too bad you weren't enough of a gentleman to not kiss me when you weren't even interested!"

She aimed another kick at him, but this time Alec managed to grab her ankle and yank her to the floor. He wrestled her until he managed to sit on her - but what now? The demon-killing knife was hanging on his belt, but he wasn't going to stab Lydia - they'd parted on good terms despite Alec's fuck-up, and she was a friend. Sensing his weakness, not-Lydia twisted under him and managed to switch their positions around, then started punching him in the face repeatedly. For a moment Alec was tempted to just give in to the pain and sink into unconsciousness, but a gun went off in the next room and Izzy was screaming, Jace was yelling in pain a few feet away, and he just couldn't let them down. He bucked his body to throw the demon off, then grabbed her head and slammed it against the floor hard enough to knock her out. 

With not-Lydia temporarily taken care of, Alec scrambled to get his gun, then staggered to his feet and aimed it at the demon that had pinned Jace to the wall like some sort of grotesque butterfly and was currently slowly breaking all the bones in one of his hands. He got her in the shoulder, and Jace sagged with relief as he slid to the floor, cradling his damaged hand to his chest.

"Go help Izzy and Ragnor," Jace said through gritted teeth. 

Alec nodded, retrieved Jace's gun for him, then moved on to the next room, where he found Ragnor wrestling with Elias while Izzy looked on helplessly, gun in her hand but unable to shoot for fear of accidentally hitting Ragnor. Her eyes widened when he entered the room, and Alec spun around to find Magnus right behind him.

Alec had his gun at the ready, but Magnus grabbed his wrist and twisted it upwards, and the shot went into the ceiling. Another twist and a fist to his already sore stomach, and Alec dropped his gun.

"Are we having fun yet?" Magnus whispered as he pinned Alec to the wall by his throat.

Alec's hand went to the knife at his belt, and he brought it up in a slashing arc, narrowly missing Magnus' chest when he twisted his body out of the way. Eyes flashing gold, Magnus' lifted a hand to wave the knife out of Alec's hand, but there was the sharp crack of a gun going off, and Magnus' body jerked backwards when the devil's trap bullet hit him in the shoulder courtesy of Izzy. Alec grabbed Magnus and slammed him against the wall, his knife at Magnus' throat.

"You're not going to kill me," Magnus sneered.

"Are you sure? You know how much my family means to me, how far I'd go for them, and you've been threatening them at every turn," Alec retorted. He brought the knife close enough that it nicked the skin on Magnus' throat, and he hissed in pain. "Call off all the demons." 

Magnus' face twisted into a snarl, but he called out in a firm, clear voice, "All of you are dismissed."

The demon that had been possessing Elias began to smoke out, and from a broken window Alec could see the demons waiting outside smoking out of their hosts as well. The smoke coalesced into a writhing black mass until they were all gone, leaving behind patches of scorched earth. 

"Now move," Alec said, getting a firm grip on Magnus' arm. "You're coming with us."

 

 

Alec knew they should have expected that they wouldn't be able to save everyone, but it still sucked, especially when all the ones who hadn't survived the possession had technically been killed by them - about half a dozen people from Stull Cemetery, including the woman they'd thrown off the car, and Meliorn, who had fallen out of a window after Ragnor had shot him. It took a while to exorcise all the demons that had been trapped in their meat suits, and a little longer to calm everyone down and send all those who needed medical attention to a hospital, but eventually they got back on the road. 

"I'm not sure shoving Magnus in the trunk was such a great idea," Jace said.

"I know you think that I should have just stabbed him, but if he's been with Lucifer all this time, he might know more about his plans," Alec said.  

"Of course that's why you didn't kill him," Ragnor sighed. "Don't forget that he still holds your contract, boy." 

They made it back to Ragnor's place without further incident. Magnus maintained a sullen silence when they got him out of the trunk of the car, his wrists shackled in the special cuffs Ragnor had carved with devil's traps all those months ago. They'd left the devil's trap bullet in his shoulder as an extra security measure so he couldn't use his powers, and Alec was holding the knife to his throat. When they got to the door, Simon was the one who answered.

"Hey guys. I've prepared the panic room for Magnus," he said, eyes darting to Magnus nervously. 

Alec nodded and dragged Magnus forward, but Magnus had barely crossed the threshold of the rectory when they heard a telltale flutter behind them.

"Raphael! What are you doing here?" Simon asked in surprise. 

"You led a _Prince of Hell_ to the Prophet?" Raphael demanded angrily.

Alec stepped in front of Magnus immediately, shielding him from Raphael. "We've got him under control, he's no threat to Simon. We need him."

"You are all blinded by your feelings for the demon," Raphael growled, and flung Alec against the wall of the rectory.

"Magnus, run!" Alec shouted, but Magnus didn't need to be told twice, already vanishing around the corner of the building. 

Simon made a grab for Raphael, but the angel threw him off easily, already stalking after Magnus, and Alec suddenly knew what he had to do. He sliced his palm open with the demon-killing knife and used his blood to draw the sigil that had appeared inside his head. It took only a matter of seconds to draw the simple design, a circle surrounding some words in a language he'd forgotten that he understood, and once it was completed he slammed his bloody palm down on it.

There was a sudden bright flash of light round the corner, and a brief roaring sound. They all ran to the back of the church to find Magnus cowering against the wall, his hands thrown up to shield himself from something. Raphael was nowhere to be seen. 

"Holy shit. Did you kill Raphael?" Simon asked.

"No, I just sent him away. Far away," Alec said, his head spinning and heart racing. _How did I do that?_

"That symbol you drew - what was that? In all my years of studying the occult, I've never seen anything like it," Ragnor said, frowning.

Then Jace surprised all of them by replying, "It's an Enochian angel-banishing sigil." Jace exchanged a panicked look with Alec. "How in hell did _I_ know that?"

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry I'm late with the update! Was a little under the weather this week. I'll try my best to update on time next week :)


	22. Hellhound On My Trail

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _I can tell the wind is risin', the leaves tremblin' on the tree_   
>  _Tremblin' on the tree_   
>  _I can tell the wind is risin', leaves tremblin' on the tree_
> 
> [_"Hellhound On My Trail", Robert Johnson_ ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OHAIgpih86E)

 

"I don't know. It's just popped in my head," Alec said.

"And you? How do you know what it is?" Ragnor demanded.

"I don't know either," Jace said, shrugging helplessly. 

"Could this mean that Jace is a vessel too?" Izzy asked.

"Well, do you and Max understand this?" Ragnor asked, gesturing at the copy they'd made of the sigil Alec had drawn. Izzy and Max shook their heads. 

"Maybe we didn't get the cool secret language downloaded into our brains because we're Lucifer's vessels," Max suggested.

"And yet he needs your permission - much like the angels do. No, I suspect that fallen angels still count as angels," Ragnor said.

"I don't suppose you remember anymore handy angel squiggly things that will banish hellhounds?" Simon asked. 

"No," Alec answered, and Jace shook his head gloomily.

"Then never mind the angel sigils, we can figure that out later. How do we keep the hellhounds at bay?" Izzy asked.

Ragnor opened the boxes he'd had the boys carry up from the basement and set out a few odd items - cartons of iron fillings, tangled bundles of dried vine, and jars of what looked like grave dirt. "Salt and holy water will also work on them, of course. But these are specially for repelling hellhounds." 

"You've got a whole cemetery of this outside," Jace said, picking up one of the jars.

"This isn't grave dirt, it's goofer dust," Ragnor corrected him. "This is voodoo magic."

" _Cool_ ," Max exclaimed, crouching closer to a bottle to examine it more closely.

"What next? Are we supposed to make hellhound plushies and stick needles in them?" Jace asked.

"There's more to voodoo than the use of effigies," Ragnor said sternly.

"I want a hellhound plushie," Simon said. "Of course I say that _now_ , but..."

"Ok, so we're going to put this stuff all around the church?" Izzy asked, ignoring all of them and already getting to her feet.

"Wait. I can hide in here for three days, but I can't hide here for the rest of my life," Alec pointed out quietly. "And when the hellhounds come, I have a feeling they aren't going to stick to targeting me. I'm putting everyone in danger - not just all of you, but anybody who happens to be at the wrong place at the wrong time."

"So you're just going to walk out there? Is that what you're saying?" Izzy demanded.

"I don't want anybody to die for me, so yeah," Alec shot back. "I've still got an archangel that still wants to take over me, and now with this whole Enochian thing... If it comes down to a choice between me and anybody else getting hurt, I want all of you to back off and let me walk out there." 

He looked around the room - Ragnor, Simon, Clary, Jace, Max, and Izzy - and all of them eventually nodded reluctantly in agreement, even though Simon couldn't meet his eyes and Max looked like he was going to throw up. All of them except Izzy and Jace. 

"Jace, Iz... come on," Alec pleaded, but Jace just shook his head and Izzy scowled and looked away, her arms crossed over her chest. "I didn't get into this whole mess in the first place just to get the both of you killed, alright?"

His siblings remained stubbornly silent, but across the table, Ragnor gave him a small nod, and Alec relaxed a little. At least he could count on Ragnor being on his side on this matter. 

Simon cleared his throat. "Well, too bad about Raphael, though. I think we could have asked him for help, since he's supposed to protect me and all, but I don't think he's going to come back after we banished him like that."

Suddenly, Clary snapped her fingers. "We should talk to Magnus. I mean, they're his hellhounds, right? He would know how to call them off."

"Uh, Fray... He's not the same guy that we were making those comics about anymore," Simon said. 

"Yeah, I know you said that, but what if we threatened to pour holy water on him or something?" Clary asked.  

"Are you suggesting that we torture Magnus for information?" Alec demanded. 

"No!" Clary blanched. "I don't mean that we should actually hurt him! We could just _say_ we were going to." 

"Do you honestly think anything we could do to him would compare to all the things he's suffered in Hell?" Ragnor scoffed. 

Alec shifted uncomfortably in his seat. Once, a long time ago, he'd promised Ragnor that if he had the chance, he would free Magnus from his misery of being turned into a demon. Before, when Magnus had still seemed to remember his human side, the thought had never even crossed his mind. But now...

"No harm trying to talk to him, I guess. What can he do to us?" Jace said, getting up from his seat. At the look on Alec's face, he held up both his hands in a pacifying gesture. "Not hurting him, just talking."

They'd put Magnus' in the middle of a powerful devil's trap in the panic room, bound to a chair with iron chains carved with more devil's traps and the bullet still lodged in his shoulder. He hadn't spoken a word since they had brought him here, not even after Alec had banished Raphael, but when they filed into the room Alec could feel Magnus' eyes on him.  

"We want you to call off the deal on Alec’s soul," Izzy said firmly.

"And I want to strip the flesh off your bone and make your brother watch, but I guess we can't all have what we want," Magnus replied easily. 

"Three days from now, if we ward off the hellhounds successfully, does that mean Alec is free?" Ragnor asked, ignoring Magnus' attempt to get a rise out of them. 

"No. His soul is marked for Hell. The hounds will return night after night until they've torn his body into shreds and dragged his soul to Hell," Magnus said with satisfaction. "You won't be able to see them, of course, but Alexander will get to see my lovely hounds in all their glory and hellfire when they finally sink their teeth and claws into him." He smiled at Alec. "I know that you can see my true face now. It's a sign that your time is almost up."

None of them had anything to say to that. They filed out of the room quietly, and as they closed the door behind them, they heard Magnus laughing.  

"He's lying right? Demons lie all the time," Alec heard Jace whisper to Izzy.  

"I don't think he needs to lie when he knows the truth will hurt more," Izzy replied quietly.  

 

 

That night, Alec woke up with a start. For a moment he thought he might have been woken up by someone having a nightmare - between the six of them in the room and all the things they'd been through, nightmares were a common occurrence - but the feeling of unease lingered. He usually slept with the demon-killing knife within reach these days, but it was no longer in its usual position near his sleeping bag. He sat up, peering into the darkness of Ragnor's living room. He could see Clary's red hair spilling over the armrest of the couch, Simon curled up with his back to the couch, Max near Ragnor's desk, and Jace sleeping like a starfish, blocking the door. But Izzy's sleeping bag next to Max was empty. 

He was on his feet in a flash, picking his way through the sleeping bodies to run down the stairs that led to the basement. They'd left the light on in the panic room for Magnus, but the door shouldn't have been ajar like that. Alec reached the doorway just in time to see Izzy plunging the demon-killing knife into Magnus' chest. 

Magnus roared in agony as Izzy put her full weight on the knife and the blade sank in further, all the way to the hilt. After a moment of stunned horror, Alec stumbled into the room, his heart plummeting at the sight of the blade protruding from the left side of Magnus' chest - she'd gone for the heart, of course she had. Izzy let go of the knife and backed away from Magnus, who was coughing and choking, then looked at Alec fearfully. 

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry... I knew how hard it must be for you and Ragnor to do it, so I did it instead," she said, close to tears. "Please don't hate me for it." 

Alec pulled her closer wordlessly into a tight hug, and she buried her face in his shirt. There was a phantom ache in his chest, as if he was the one who had been stabbed through the heart - for Magnus, that this was the way it was going to end, and for Izzy, that she'd been pushed to a point that the only solution she'd been able to come up with was to kill another human being. Magnus was still breathing - pained, laboured breaths - and his head was hanging down. Alec had no idea how long someone took to die from being stabbed in the heart, but surely it wouldn't be long now. He was faintly aware of footsteps outside the panic room; Magnus' shout must have woken up everybody in the rectory. He let go of Izzy and crouched in front of Magnus, one hand gently cupping his face and wondering if he was conscious enough to look at Alec - and if he did, whether Alec would still see the demon, or by some cruel twist of fate see the Magnus he knew one last time. 

Then Magnus lifted his head, and Alec recoiled when he bared his bloodied teeth in a parody of a grin. "Sorry to disappoint," Magnus choked out through a mouthful of blood. "Looks like your little knife doesn't work on a Prince of Hell." 

 

 

Ragnor had put up a sign claiming that the church was undergoing maintenance works, warning his parishioners to stay away in case they were injured by falling debris, and the group spent the whole day warding the place against hellhounds: rings of salt, iron, and goofer dust all the around the circumference of the church and across every entrance big or small; and sprigs of the dried vines, which Ragnor said was called devil's shoestring, above every doorway and windowsill. They'd stocked up enough food for a week; Alec could only hope that Magnus had been lying, and that once they managed to keep the hellhounds at bay past the day that his contract expired, the hellhounds would be called off.  

When night fell, they all got into position. Clary would stay with Max and Simon inside the church and behind the altar, armed with holy water and two shotguns, since Jace had been teaching Max how to shoot. Alec and Jace would watch the front, and Ragnor and Izzy would watch the back, where the small graveyard was. 

They didn't have long to wait. Once the clock struck midnight, Alec heard the growls starting up in the darkness outside. He strained his eyes to see them properly, shotgun at the ready, but all he saw were vague shapes prowling in the shadows. It was impossible to tell how many of them there were, but he knew for certain that they'd surrounded the church completely and that they moved _fast_.

But the defensive lines they'd put up seemed to be holding, the hellhounds keeping their distance. The minutes ticked by, and despite everything Alec began to hope - six more hours to sunrise, then five, then four... 

That was when they heard the screaming. It was coming from the church, and all at once the hellhounds were running off towards the direction of the church as well. Alec and Jace took off and were the first ones through the door that linked the rectory to the church.

Simon had been pinned to the wall of the church, arms outstretched and feet together, with sharp pieces of metal that looked like twisted pieces of the wrought iron gate outside driven through his palms and feet and into the stone - like he'd been crucified, Alec realised. Jace made a sound of distress and immediately pushed one of the pews against the wall to try to get to Simon. Clary and Max were nowhere to be found. 

Thankfully, Simon was still alive. When Jace started trying to pull the metal out of his palms to free him from the wall, Simon whimpered in pain, shocked back into consciousness. "Lucifer," Simon whispered, and Alec could have kicked himself. 

They'd all been focusing so much on him and his deal that they'd lost sight of the bigger picture. Lucifer had obviously used the hellhounds as a distraction to capture his true vessel in hopes that he could convince Max to say 'yes', and Clary at Jonathan's request. Then Alec heard the snarling just outside the door of the church and was reminded that their ordeal was far from over. 

The hellhounds crossed the protective lines that had been broken by Lucifer just as Ragnor and Izzy came in through the door. The beasts were huge, more like bears than dogs, with glowing red eyes and razor-sharp teeth behind snarling lips. They seemed almost insubstantial, their bodies made out of swirling black smoke, and Alec didn't know if it was just his imagination, but he thought he saw faces in the smoke - as if the hellhounds were made out of tortured souls. The air in the church was chilly from the November wind coming in through the open door, and Alec could see the fetid breath of the hounds condensing in clouds. There were six of them, and Alec saw the exact moment that they caught his scent - all of them turned their fiery eyes on him at the same time, and went deadly quiet.

He knew he should stand his ground, but he couldn't help himself; he took a step back, and all hell broke loose. They pounced at him all at once, snarling, and the everyone in the room started firing blindly at the monsters they couldn't see. One of the hellhounds yelped and flew sideways when the iron rounds hit it by pure luck, smashing a few rows of pews, and three turned away from Alec to go after Ragnor, Izzy, and Jace. Alec managed to get one of the remaining hounds right in the muzzle, but the second leapt straight at him and knocked him to the floor. Alec held his shotgun in front of him with both hands, holding it at the hound's throat to stop it from biting his head off and choking on the scorching breath in his face. But the creature was strong, and Alec was sure it was going to snap the shotgun in two. 

Suddenly, the hellhound let out a pained whine and slumped onto Alec, knocking the air out of Alec's lungs with the force of its full weight on him. He shoved the dead hellhound off with some difficulty, and sat up only to see one sneaking up on Izzy - and nobody else could see it, all their backs turned to it...

"Izzy, behind you!" Alec shouted, but he was too late.

Izzy screamed when the hound's claws ripped into her back and its jaws closed on her abdomen. All of them fired at the hound at the same time, but the damage was done. 

"Izzy... God, please, no," Alec whispered as he pulled her out from under the hellhound and cradled her in his arms.

She had been torn almost in half by the hound, and Alec knew there was no coming back from injuries like these. Jace was holding her hand, tears running down his face, and Ragnor was giving them some space while he tried to help Simon. Izzy tried to smile at them, and opened her mouth to speak, but no sound came out. Her eyes were glazing over, and Alec knew she was slipping away. 

"Michael!" he lifted his head and yelled. "I'll say 'yes'! Just heal her, and I'll say 'yes'!" 

"No! Alec-" Jace said, stricken.

Alec ignored him. When there was no response, he yelled, "Raphael! I'm ready to say 'yes' to Michael!"

Raphael appeared a few feet away, frowning as he took in the dead hellhounds and general destruction inside the church. He glanced at Simon, and in the blink of an eye Simon was sitting on one of the pews, his hands and feet completely healed. 

"Raphael, heal her as well, please," Alec begged. 

"She is one of Lucifer's possible vessels," Raphael pointed out. 

"Please. I'll do anything."

Raphael sighed and nodded his head, and Izzy gasped in surprise as she opened her eyes, her body whole again. Alec hugged her as tightly as he could, his relief so overwhelming that his head was swimming. 

"Alec? How...?" Izzy said in confusion, then spotted Raphael over his shoulder, waiting. "No, no... Alec, please tell me you didn't."

"It's ok, Iz," he said, kissing her forehead. She was still clinging onto his shirt; he shook her off gently and stood up to face Raphael. 

"Call out to him," Raphael instructed.  

Except that Alec already had, and Michael hadn't answered. He screwed his eyes shut and concentrated, but nothing happened.  

Raphael huffed in frustration. "I knew it. He must be trapped somewhere. I know a spell that will let me track him, with your help, but I need some time to gather the ingredients."

"How long?" Alec asked quietly. 

"Perhaps a day or two. But if you go back on your word..." Raphael warned. 

"I won't. No tricks," Alec promised.

"Be ready when I return for you," Raphael said, and then he was gone. 

 

  


	23. Simple Man

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _And be a simple kind of man_   
>  _Oh, be something you love and understand_   
>  _Baby, be a simple kind of man_   
>  _Won't you do this for me, son, if you can_
> 
> [_"Simple Man", Lynyrd Skynyrd (Jensen Ackles cover)_ ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3SniMv8EGiY)

 

 

They gathered in Ragnor's living room after that, sipping coffee in silence. They should have all gone to bed, but none of them could sleep. The assortment of sleeping bags used by everyone in the rectory were neatly packed and stacked up where Clary had left them - she was always the one who did the packing, wanting to be useful - and the small collection of comics Max had just started accumulating sat accusingly on one of Ragnor's shelves next to all his books on the occult.

Across from Alec, Izzy's hands were shaking as she held her coffee cup. She needed more than just caffeine and sugar, Alec thought. He could still see it in his mind's eye: the small flecks of blood that had splattered her face and neck, the feeling of her blood seeping through his jeans... then he'd had to put his own cup down because his hands were shaking too. 

"Hey, Alec. If there's anything you particularly want to eat or do, just let us know, alright?" Jace suddenly said, staring into his cup of coffee as if it held the answers to the universe. "Or if you want any of us to go anywhere with you - bet there's an archery range somewhere nearby, if you want me to go with you..." 

"No, I'm good," Alec said, feeling like there was a lump in his throat. "I don't want to do anything special. Just want it to be like a normal day."

Izzy took a deep breath and put down her coffee cup with enough violence that some of it slopped out onto the table. "I can't do this. You can't say 'yes'."

"I promised," Alec reminded her. 

"Then break your promise! I don't care if Raphael strikes me down dead if you refuse to cooperate with him." 

"I can't do that," Alec said. 

"Yes, you can! This is bigger than all of us. If Michael takes control of you, that's the end of the _world_ ," Izzy said angrily. "My life, in exchange for the world? What were you thinking?!"

He'd been thinking that he couldn't stand having his sister die in his arms. That they'd lost Max again, with no clue how to even start looking for him, and they couldn't realistically expect a 12-year-old to hold out against the literal Devil, but Michael would have a better chance of beating Lucifer if the battle happened before he got control of his true vessel - and surely Heaven on earth was better than Hell on earth. He'd been thinking that he couldn't do it anymore, just the thought of the hounds coming night after night, until all of them were dead because of him. 

"I'm tired, Iz," he said softly. "What's the point? Magnus was right - we're only humans. How did we ever expect to win? We've got nothing."  

"Alec, don't give up. This isn't like you," she pleaded. 

"I can't even give myself up to the hellhounds anymore, not now that he has Max. I mean, I'll fight Michael every step of the way from the inside if it'd do any good. But maybe it's just better if I gave in and followed the path I was supposed to take," Alec said.  

Ragnor cleared his throat. "Well, we do still have one thing - the Book of Soyga."

Alec looked up in surprise. They'd forgotten it in the wake of all the things that had happened - Lilith, Alec's addiction and recovery, Max's return, and Magnus' disappearance. "You mentioned that you thought I might be able to read it, because I'm Michael's vessel." 

Ragnor nodded. "I was reminded of it when you drew the Enochian sigil."

"That's the book Magnus and the Circle people were all after, right? It's got to be important," Simon said, perking up.  

Alec went out to Magnus' empty grave in the cemetery to dig up the loose stack of parchment Ragnor had put in a curse box, wrapped in oilskin to protect it from the elements. The cipher in their copy spanned 36 pages, much like the copy that had been found in the British Library - all the pages filled with tables of odd symbols. Alec carefully laid them all out on Ragnor's table so all five of them could take a look. 

"Any luck?" Izzy asked Alec and Jace.

Jace scratched the back of his head. "Uh... That one looks like a letter 'P'? And that one looks like a butt. I don't know, man, it's all gibberish to me."

"Yeah, I can see the resemblance. Is this the angel equivalent of toilet stall graffiti?" Simon asked, craning his neck.  

Alec frowned. "I think that to understand this cipher, we need the key."

On a hunch, he started flipping through the rest of the ancient tome. There were many long lists of incantations, astrological conjunctions, lunar mansions, and the names and genealogies of demons and angels. Now and then, parts of a page would jump out at him: a string of what looked like nonsense syllables in the middle of a section about archangels, strange words marked on the lines in between the stars on an astronomy chart, another string of nonsense words in the border of a page. 

"We've got it all wrong. The pages at the end are the key; the _book_ itself is the cipher," Alec said in realisation, flipping back to the first string of odd words that he'd noticed.

The rest of the group waited with bated breath as he matched it up to the first page of Enochian symbols. He felt it like a switch clicking on inside his head, the symbols and words swimming in and out of focus and coming together in one fleeting moment of clarity before it was gone again. But he kept at it doggedly and eventually managed to make his way to the end of the page. The second page was not much easier, but by the sixth page, Alec thought he might be getting the hang of it, even though it was starting to give him a serious headache. 

"It's a list of ingredients," Alec finally said. 

"Please don't tell me we've all been fighting over a recipe for chicken cacciatore," Simon said warily. "I don't care how amazing it is, I'm going to riot."

"It's for a spell, to free the earth from the will of God," Alec said. 

"Huh? I don't get it," Jace said, frowning. 

"You know how Adam and Eve ate the fruit from the tree and gained the knowledge of good and evil, and were cast out of Eden? This is like force-feeding everyone the fruit on a cosmic scale. Ditching God's rulebook and going off the reservation. Free will for everyone - angels, demons, humans, monsters." 

"No more destiny or prophecies, no more Ineffable Plan. Just people making their own choices for good or evil," Ragnor said musingly. 

"If you think about it, it's really more of the same - people just doing the best they can, not knowing what lies ahead," Izzy said. 

"Except that we'll be taking away the hard restart option. I could get behind that," Jace agreed.

"No more headsplitting visions? I'm 100% behind that plan," Simon said fervently. "Team Free Will for the win."

"And if it was intended that Michael - and as it turns out, his vessel - was supposed to be the only one who could solve this cipher, it may mean that Michael will take our side in this," Ragnor pointed out.

A stunned silence greeted his words.  

"Oh, god. I hope so. I really hope so," Izzy whispered, reaching out to squeeze Alec's hand. 

"Ok, so what do we need to complete this spell?" Simon asked. 

Alec worried his lower lip, trying to follow the pattern of the cipher. "Grace of an archangel. Blood of an alpha monster. Fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. And-" his voice faltered. He stared at the page, reading it again to make sure he hadn't gotten it wrong, and again to make sure it hadn't just been wishful thinking.  

"Easy-peasey. All available from your nearest Walmart," Jace said sarcastically. 

"And what's the grace of an archangel? Are we supposed to ask Raphael to teach us how to do the ballet or something?" Simon joked.

"You might have to pray to a different archangel then, Raphael doesn't look particularly graceful," Jace said sourly. 

"Alec, what was that last one?" Ragnor asked, frowning. 

"Sliver of a human soul that was once one of Hell's damned. A human who was once a demon," Alec said, already flipping frantically through the rest of the pages to find the next page of the cipher. 

"Are you saying that there's a _cure_?" Izzy asked, her voice jumping up an octave in her excitement.

Ragnor made an impatient noise and slapped Alec's hands away from the book, then rescued the ancient tome from his rough handling. "More haste, less speed," he scolded. "What are we looking for?"  

Between the five of them, they managed to identify all 36 pages of the cipher and lay them out in order. 

"I'd say chances are, we really do need to convince Michael to help us. How else are we supposed to get the fruit and the grace, whatever that is?" Ragnor said. 

"And I suppose we could try to catch a monster and ask it where to find an alpha," Simon said. "And by 'we', I mean you guys, because I doubt a scrappy nerd from Pennsylvania is going to be much use to you big bad hunters." 

"Oh, you'll do fine," Jace assured him with a grin. 

"But first - curing the demon we can do right now," Izzy said with a small smile at Alec.

"A lot of blood, a little Latin," Jace said, and slapped Alec on the shoulder. "Go on, then. Go get your man back."

"I'm not sure I'm the best choice," Alec said hesitantly. "I mean, my blood is kind of messed up. What if it doesn't work?"  

"According to the book, whoever's participating in the ritual must purify their blood by seeking absolution from mortal sin, and I'm certain that completing the Sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation will do the trick. We can try yours, and if it doesn't work, another one of us can step in," Ragnor said. "But I think we're not wrong to say that you would like to try your hand at the ritual." 

"Yeah. I'd like that very much," Alec admitted.  

"Very well, then. Come with me," Ragnor said, retrieving his ceremonial robes. "I will hear your confession now."

"Oh fuck," Alec muttered, rubbing a hand over his face in embarrassment. 

"It's not like I haven't already heard it all," Ragnor pointed out wryly. "Come on, boy, stop dawdling. Don't forget that we need eight hours to complete the cure."

Right. And time wasn't exactly on his side, was it? Alec got on his feet and followed Ragnor out of the door.

 

 

Magnus eyed them warily when they came in with the first aid kit. Ragnor had checked on Magnus' wound from the demon-killing knife after Izzy's attempt on his life, and while it had healed up a little despite the devil's trap bullet in Magnus' shoulder suppressing his powers, if they were going to cure Magnus, they would have to remove the bullet completely so that he could use his powers to heal himself. The tricky part, of course was _when_ \- if they removed it too soon, Magnus might still be too much of a demon and use the opportunity to break free; too late, and they weren't sure if he could heal himself, and he would almost certainly die from his injuries.  

"What are you doing?" Magnus demanded when Izzy helped Alec draw the first syringe of blood.

Ragnor and Alec stepped into the circle of the devil's trap at the same instant, walking towards Magnus from different directions. Magnus snarled, teeth bared, and tried to lunge forward to bite Alec - only to get a faceful of holy water and a syringe of purified blood in his neck. Magnus roared with pain and fury, then Alec saw a flicker of confusion on his face, and he began to convulse in the chair, crying out in real agony this time.

"Is it supposed to do that?" Izzy asked worriedly as Alec and Ragnor joined her outside the confines of the trap. 

"I guess we'll just have to find out," Ragnor said grimly. 

The injections were administered once every hour, and in the time in between Alec would sit at the table they'd brought in so he could work on transcribing the translation of the cipher from the Book, usually with Izzy or Jace sitting with him while Magnus glared daggers at them. It felt to Alec like they were killing Magnus with the injections, his reactions getting more and more violent until Ragnor had to gag him to stop him from accidentally biting his tongue. Ragnor removed the bullet from Magnus before they injected him with the fourth dose of blood, and evidently Magnus was still demon enough, because his wounds began to close up immediately. But Magnus stopped fighting them after the sixth dose, letting out a whimper when the needle went in and just shivering silently in his chair.

When the eighth and final dose was injected, Magnus barely had any reaction to it - although it was hard to tell if it was just because he was too exhausted. Now all that was left was the final step of the ritual. Alec sliced his palm open as he read the final incantation: " _Exorcizamus te, omnis immundus spiritus. Hanc animam redintegra, lustra! Lustra!_ "

He removed the gag, then clamped his bloody palm over Magnus' mouth, and Magnus screamed. 

A bright light burst out of Magnus, pouring out of his eyes and mouth as he shuddered and trembled from the force of the spell. Alec's vision of Magnus' true face was melting away, and just as the light faded, Alec saw Magnus' eyes darken from yellow to normal human brown. Then Magnus' eyes rolled backwards into his skull and he slumped forward, unconscious. 

"Magnus?!" Alec shook him, but there was no response. He took Magnus' pulse with shaking hands, and was slightly more relieved when he felt it thrumming steadily under his fingers. 

"Did it work?" Izzy asked anxiously. 

Ragnor took the last bit of holy water in the bottle and emptied it on Magnus' arm - nothing happened, no smoke or stench of burning flesh. 

"I think we did it," Ragnor said with a smile. "We cured him. Magnus is human again."

 

 

Midnight came and went with no sign of hellhounds lurking outside the circles of goofer dust, and they all heaved a sigh of relief. Alec was dead on his feet, weak from blood loss and lack of sleep and feeling a bit like his head was going to split open after hours of translating the cipher, but after an hour of fitful sleep, Alec gave it up as a bad job and got up to check on Magnus.

Ragnor had settled Magnus in his old bedroom after getting him showered and dressed, but had reported that Magnus was still out cold when he'd left him. Alec knocked on the door just in case, and almost jumped when he heard Magnus reply, "Come in."

Magnus was sitting up in bed, looking tired but alert. Alec had never seen Magnus without make-up before, and he must have been staring, because Magnus swept his hair off his forehead a little self-consciously. He smiled tentatively at Alec, and Alec felt a dull ache in his chest. It wasn't fair that he was only getting Magnus back now, when they'd had the book with them for so long, but getting him back at all was a miracle in itself. 

"This is kinda weird. I feel like I know you, but I don't at the same time," Alec said. 

"Then let's start all over again," Magnus said with a small smile. He stuck out a hand. "I'm Magnus Bane."

Alec huffed out a laugh. "Alec Lightwood," he said, and took Magnus' hand to shake it.  

Magnus' hand was warm, familiar. The nail polish had chipped off a little, so unlike the perfect manicure demon Magnus always had, and Magnus wasn't wearing any of his usual rings. Alec was suddenly aware that he had held onto Magnus' hand for too long, and quickly let go, and Magnus' face fell a little. 

"Alexander... I'm so sorry for everything I've done to you and your family," Magnus said quietly.  

"That was the demon, not you," Alec said quickly. 

"But I _was_ the demon," Magnus said with a sad smile. "It was a version of me that was all impulse and no conscience, selfish and self-absorbed. But it was still me."

"If that was the worst version of you, you were still a better person than some people," Alec said, thinking of Jonathan.  

Magnus laughed softly. "Flatterer." 

"I'm serious."

"I wouldn't blame you if you hate me," Magnus said, worrying the fraying edge of his blanket. 

"Magnus, hey. It's not your fault," Alec said, sitting down on the bed. He couldn't stand Magnus looking like this, shoulders hunched and so unsure of where he stood with Alec.

"Do you regret all the things you did in the dark with me?" Magnus whispered. 

"Never," Alec said firmly, and leaned forward to kiss him - Magnus made a small sound of surprise, then he was kissing Alec back like his life depended on it, his hand resting on Alec's cheek with a hesitancy that made his heart hurt. 

"I missed you, I missed you so much," Alec whispered against his lips. 

"Oh, Alexander, I don't deserve you." Magnus sounded like he was going to cry, and Alec didn't want to make him cry. He hushed him gently, cupping Magnus' face in his hands and kissing him again and again. They could have had a little more time together, but it was too late for regrets now.  

"If I could love you as a demon, what makes you think I wouldn't love you now?" 

Magnus' breath hitched. "You love me?"  

"Yeah. I guess I do," Alec said, feeling stupid just for admitting it, because what kind of idiot fell in love with a demon? But then Magnus was kissing him and trying to tug his shirt off, and Alec forgot all about feeling stupid. 

They undressed each other with far more care than was usual for them, Alec torn between wanting to prolong the moment and fighting a sense of time slipping between his fingers. Magnus' body bore no new scars from the last time Alec had seen him, not even at the place where Izzy had stabbed him - all his new scars were hidden marks on his soul. He shivered when Alec kissed the tattoo on his hip, then pulled him up for a searing kiss, and rolled Alec under him. 

"I have to say, I'll miss being lubed up at the snap of a finger," Magnus joked. "Now I'll have to do this the old-fashioned way."

He started to reach behind himself, but Alec stopped him.  

"Magnus, I..." Alec swallowed hard. "It's my turn." 

"You want to do it instead?" Magnus asked, offering him the lube. 

"I meant... Could you do me?" 

Magnus froze in surprise. "But you've never...?" 

"No. But I want it with you." 

Magnus' eyes were wide in the dark. "Are you sure?"

"Yes," Alec whispered back. 

"I don't want to hurt you."

"You won't."

"It will probably hurt, since it's your first time," Magnus told him honestly.

But no physical hurt could compare to what Alec felt knowing he would have to leave, and even then it was nothing compared to what Magnus was going to feel when he found out what Alec had promised Raphael. But Alec didn't want to think about that right now, didn't want his already limited time with Magnus tainted with thoughts about a future he couldn't prevent, so he pulled Magnus down for a kiss.

And it did hurt, even with Magnus working him open gently and so, so slowly. Alec closed his eyes, trying not to clench down as Magnus' slick fingers slid in and out of his body, twisting and scissoring. Then Magnus crooked his fingers inside him, and Alec couldn't hold in a sharp cry of pleasure. 

"Shh," Magnus whispered, laughter in his voice. "You'll wake the rest of the house."

"Magnus, I'm ready, come on."

"We've got all the time in the world," Magnus replied - except that they didn't. Alec was glad that his face was half hidden in the darkness, so Magnus couldn't see the change in his expression.

Magnus pulled his fingers out of Alec, then lay down behind him, on his side. Alec heard the sounds of Magnus slicking himself up, then Magnus pulled his hips towards him and rubbed the head of his cock against Alec's entrance, just the tip dipping past the rim. Then he coaxed Alec to turn his head towards him and sealed his lips over Alec's just before he sank into him, muffling their moans with a kiss. 

"Are you ok?" Magnus panted, tracing soothing circles on Alec's hip with his thumb when he was seated fully inside him.

"Yeah," Alec replied, voice strained as he tried to adjust to the unfamiliar burn of having Magnus' cock hard and hot inside him, stretching him wide open. He pushed back against Magnus experimentally, and they both gasped.

Alec sought out Magnus' lips again as Magnus began to move, drawing out before sliding back in with just enough force to punch the breath out of Alec. He had never imagined that it would feel like this - how intimate it felt to let himself be vulnerable, how good it felt once the sting of the penetration had faded. He pushed back to meet Magnus' thrusts as he got more confident with the rhythm they had going, but then Magnus tilted his hips just right and suddenly it was just all too much - Alec could only bury his face in the pillow, clench his hands in the sheets, and surrender.

Magnus had his lips pressed into the crook of Alec's neck to muffle his moans as he rocked into Alec, and Alec could feel his whole body coiled tight as Magnus' cock dragged over that spot inside him again and again. It was unbearable, the pleasure of it so intense that Alec was losing his mind with the need to come. 

"Please, _please_ ," he panted, unable to form the words he wanted to say, but thankfully Magnus understood.

Alec shuddered when Magnus put a hand on his cock, his own hand reaching down to tangle with Magnus' fingers as Magnus began to stroke him in time with his thrusts. 

"Magnus, Magnus..." Alec gasped as the pressure inside him reached a breaking point. 

"Shh, it's okay, darling. I've got you," Magnus whispered, and swept his thumb over the head of Alec's cock; then Alec was coming, mouth falling open in a silent shout.

He squeezed his eyes shut, arching his body into Magnus as he fucked him through his orgasm. In a moment the sensations turned overwhelming, and Alec clamped down involuntarily on Magnus' cock. Magnus let out a harsh gasp, and within seconds he was coming too, pushing in as deep as he could go as he filled Alec with his release.

He wrapped his arms around Alec a little tighter, and in the silence of the room, Alec heard him whisper, soft but clear: "I love you, too, Alexander."

 

  

_Alec Lightwood_. 

Alec heard the voice in his mind rather than through his ears. It wasn't anybody he recognised, but in that half state between dreaming and waking, he thought it sounded familiar all the same. 

_Alec Lightwood. It is time._  

He opened his eyes and frowned. Carefully shifting Magnus' arm off his waist, he got out of bed and pulled on his boxers. Alec wandered to the open window, and saw Raphael standing just outside the fence around the small cemetery.

Alec swallowed hard and put on the rest of his clothes - sensible jeans, plain dark t-shirt, but hesitated at the jacket. It was cold out, but angels probably didn't feel the cold. No sense in wasting a good jacket on him - Magnus would probably have better use for it, so he left it on the back of the chair. It was better this way, with everyone asleep. He wouldn't have to say goodbye to his siblings and watch them cry, wouldn't have to see the resigned looks on Simon and Ragnor's faces. Of course, his luck didn't hold out with Magnus. 

"Alexander? Where are you going?" he asked groggily. 

"Hey, no. Go back to sleep. I'm just going to pop out and, uh, check the perimeter. It's my turn," Alec said.  

"You'll be right back?"

"I'll be right back," Alec lied. He leaned down to kiss Magnus gently on the forehead one last time, and left. 

 

 


	24. Knockin' On Heaven's Door

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _Mama put my guns in the ground_   
>  _I can't shoot them anymore_   
>  _That cold black cloud is comin' down_   
>  _Feels like I'm knockin' on heaven's door_
> 
> [_"Knockin' On Heaven's Door", Guns N' Roses_ ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmNlUnsWZOQ)

  

 

It really was cold out, after being warm in Magnus' bed and Magnus' arms. Alec hugged his arms around himself, and forced himself to take slow, deep breaths as he walked out of the rectory and across the small cemetery towards Raphael. He wasn't going to cry. He was absolutely fucking _not_ going to cry. He was just sniffling a bit because the cold was affecting his sinuses, that's all. He blinked a few times to clear his vision, and at least Raphael had the decency not to mention any of it.

"I'm here," Alec said dully. 

Raphael nodded solemnly and placed a hand on his shoulder. Alec barely had the time to flinch away, and in the blink of an eye, he found himself in the middle of a clearing in the woods that looked like the set of the Blair Witch Project. He stumbled a little on the uneven ground, and looked around warily.  

"Why did you bring me here?" 

"The spell will cause you a considerable amount of pain - I thought it would be best to find a secluded spot where we won't attract undue attention," Raphael explained. 

"Great," Alec muttered. Jace would probably have made some quip about the archangel behaving like a serial killer, but thinking about Jace hurt. 

Alec watched with trepidation as Raphael laid out a strange collection of things - tiny fragile bones, a dried lizard and a dried seahorse, some type of root, and the brain of some small mammal. He could just imagine Izzy's curiosity about the ingredients and what each of them did, but thinking about Izzy hurt, too. Raphael drew a sigil in the dirt and placed a pewter bowl on top of it. 

"How does this work? If Michael is trapped, will the spell free him?" Alec asked. 

"The spell amplifies the connection between the vessel and the angel, strong enough to break through any occult warding. It will act as a beacon to guide him to you, and vice versa. If he is indeed trapped, and unable to come to you on his own, you will help me find him so I can free him," Raphael answered as he broke up the larger ingredients into smaller pieces with his bare hands before dumping them in the bowl. Alec winced at the squelching sound the brain made when Raphael mashed it up. 

Alec watched Raphael work for a while, shifting his weight from one foot to the other, then couldn't stop himself from blurting out, "How does being possessed by an angel feel like? I mean, could I talk to the guy you're possessing or something?" 

"I'm afraid that would not be possible - mainly because I do not think he is capable of speaking to anyone."

"I'm sorry, what?" Alec asked with a growing sense of dread. 

Raphael sighed. "There is normally a period of communication between angel and vessel, trials where the vessel proves their faith and the angel allows the vessel to witness a series of miracles. It is an incredible honour to be chosen by an angel, but we do not take the claiming lightly, especially when an archangel is involved."

"Why? Why's being the vessel of an archangel different?" Alec asked suspiciously. 

Raphael hesitated. "The human mind is not designed to withstand the enormity of an angel's true form, much less the force of an archangel's power. Being in such close proximity, sharing minds with an archangel, has its consequences."

"You said that the guy you're possessing agreed that he would serve as your vessel whenever you needed him. So what happens to him when you're not possessing him?" Alec asked. 

"His family placed him in a care home that specialises in catatonic patients. As I understand it, his sister still visits, even though he does not know that she's there," Raphael replied stiffly. 

"So if I say 'yes' to Michael, after he leaves I'm basically going to be brain-dead?!" Alec asked in horror. 

" _When_ you let Michael in," Raphael said sharply, "and he has defeated Lucifer, there will be Heaven on earth and everlasting life for everyone. Your worries are irrelevant."

"So everyone I love will be dead instead of just me being brain-dead. That makes it so much better," Alec bit out, trying not to let his panic show. 

But Raphael did not seem to care about the effect his words had had on Alec. He stood up and walked towards Alec, and Alec realised with a rising terror that the way Lucifer had burned when he'd brushed against Alec as he escaped from his cage, like the heart of a cold fire, wasn't because he was the Devil, but because he was an angel. 

"On behalf of my brother, I thank you for your sacrifice," Raphael said solemnly, and Alec felt the archangel's hand press into a spot under his ribs. It was like being impaled by a red-hot spear, Raphael's hand melting through his skin and flesh like it was nothing. Alec felt his own scream reverberate in his skull, and was dimly aware that he was glowing the way Magnus had when Alec had cured him. 

It felt like it had been hours, but in reality it had probably been seconds before Raphael withdrew his hand and let Alec slump to the ground, winded and feeling like he was being jabbed all over by a thousand needles. He looked down at his abdomen, expecting a gaping hole, but there was no physical sign of whatever Raphael had done. Even his t-shirt was still intact. Raphael had a frown on his face as he examined the contents of the bowl, which Alec had a feeling didn't bode well for him at all - then Raphael reached down and grabbed him by the shoulder, and zapped them somewhere else without giving Alec a chance to recover.

 

 

The second place Raphael zapped them to was a place that Alec recognised, at least. He'd wanted to visit the Sequoia National Park since he was a kid, and it was pretty ironic that even though he'd basically been on a never-ending road trip with his siblings for a year now, he'd never had a chance to stop by. Instead, now he was trudging through the freezing woods in the wee hours of the morning, clutching his abdomen and trying to keep up with an unsympathetic archangel while his body felt like it was going to break apart from the aftereffects of Raphael's spell. 

Raphael had naturally decided to eschew the easy tourist trail, picking his way through the thick undergrowth that kept tripping Alec and catching on his clothes and slowing him down. Most of the trees were as tall as buildings, but none of them were as impressive as the one Raphael finally stopped at. It was almost as wide as a house, and so tall that in the low light Alec couldn't see past the lowest branches. He thought he recognised it from photographs he'd seen, and sure enough there was a plaque in front of it labelling it as 'General Sherman'. Alec knew it was the largest and probably the most famous tree in the park, a giant sequoia that was over 2,500 years old. It was fenced in, probably to keep the tourists out, but at a touch from Raphael, the whole fence fell apart. He stepped over the scattered planks and stopped at the foot of the massive tree, then placed his palm on the trunk. 

"No wonder nobody has seen Michael for thousands of years. I knew he had begun to question our orders, talk about choices... But I never thought he'd actually do it," Raphael muttered.

"Is Michael trapped _inside_ the tree?" Alec asked incredulously. 

"No," Raphael said heavily. "This tree was created by Michael's grace touching the earth when he fell."

"What are you saying? If he fell, do you mean he's a fallen angel now, like Lucifer?" Alec asked in confusion, and if possible the prospect of being possessed by Michael became even more terrifying. 

"No, he cut out his grace - his angelic essence. He's been reborn as a _human_ ," Raphael said, his voice dripping with loathing. 

Alec felt light-headed with sudden relief. "So he can't... I mean, I can't say 'yes' even if I wanted to," Alec breathed out. 

"That's all you're concerned about, all your puny, selfish human mind can think about - your own well-being," Raphael snarled. "Do you have any idea at all what this means for us? Without Michael we are lost! We have no way of beating Lucifer!"

"You're an archangel too," Alec pointed out. "I know Michael is supposed to be the eldest and the most powerful, but couldn't you...?" 

"That's not what the prophecy says!" Raphael roared. "It's God's will that the Apocalypse be fought between Michael and Lucifer!" 

"What if it isn't?" Alec said quickly, wondering if he could convert Raphael to their cause. "We found a spell in a book, a spell that will stop everything - no more Apocalypse, no more prophecies. Just freedom and choice. It's supposed to be the word of the angels, and surely if God hadn't meant for it to be a possible option, it wouldn't exist."

Raphael stared at him. "What book?" 

"Uh, it was written by a guy called John Dee. The Book of Soyga. Or there was another name for it that Magnus mentioned..." 

"You're talking about the _Aldaraia sive Soyga vocor_ ," Raphael said. "The secret message for Michael that was communicated to the Prophet in a vision." 

"Yeah, that one," Alec agreed. "I managed to crack the cipher - I guess because I'm Michael's true vessel. And it says that-" 

"It's _you_ ," Raphael interrupted him in a low, deadly voice, his expression thunderous. 

"What?" Alec asked in confusion, then suddenly Raphael grabbed him by his shirt and punched him.  

There'd been more leverage in that punch than Alec had expected from a guy who didn't even reach his chin. He hit the ground hard, then scrambled to get away from the archangel looming over him. "What the fuck was that for?!" 

"For abandoning us. For choosing to be _this_ over your birthright - because you abandoned your post, we failed to rescue the Righteous Man from Hell! All of Heaven has been in chaos since you left, and I've had to pick up the pieces of the mess you left behind. It was your _duty_ , Michael - how could you do this to us, your brothers and sisters?"

"Why are you calling me Michael? I'm not. I can't be," Alec whispered in shock. 

"I suspected something was amiss when you produced the banishing sigil. But if you can read the book, there is no other explanation. A mere vessel wouldn't have that ability."

"But... I don't remember anything," Alec said, swallowing hard. 

"No, I don't suppose you would. Thousands of years as a mud-monkey, one miserable lifetime after another, has corrupted your mind," Raphael fumed. 

He hauled Alec upright and shoved him toward the tree. "Take it back. Take back your grace. There is still time for you to atone for your actions."

Alec looked up at the gigantic tree. There _was_ something about it that called out to him, something about this tree that set it apart from the rest. It was more alive, even the colour of its bark was more vibrant than that of the rest of its brethren, and when the wind rustled the leaves it almost felt like it was speaking to him. 

"No," Alec finally said. "Even if I knew how to take the grace back, I won't. I refuse."

"You don't have a choice," Raphael snarled. 

"Actually, I do. I think that was the whole point of it," Alec said with growing confidence. 

"So you're just going to remain a human. Weak, confused, afraid. And let the world go to hell?" Raphael demanded. 

"Look, even if I really was Michael, I'm not him anymore. I don't remember what it's even like to be him, and even if I took that grace back there's no guarantee that I'll remember, right?" Alec pointed out. "One of the ingredients needed in the spell to free the earth from God's will is an archangel's grace. I think... it was always his intention. That's why the message was left for Michael - because he knew that if Michael decided to perform the spell, he would have to throw in his lot with the humans."

"That's your problem, Michael. You always took our Father's words too much to heart. When He said to love the humans, he didn't mean to love them so much you'd want to  _become_ one of them," Raphael snapped.  

"I'm Alec Lightwood. My parents were Robert and Maryse Lightwood, I have three annoying siblings who mean the world to me, and..." Alec cut himself off - confessing that he'd fallen in love with a demon was probably just going to make Raphael angrier, and besides it was more than that. Being an angel seemed like a pretty cold-hearted existence, and compared to that, even the mess of good and bad that came with being human seemed infinitely more attractive. "I'm not Michael, Raphael. And I don't think I _want_ to be him."

Raphael glowered at him. "I suppose you think you can use the grace for this spell of yours - but even if you succeed, what then? Lucifer still walks the earth." 

"I don't know. We'll cross that bridge when we come to it. But there's got to be another way to send Lucifer back to Hell, or kill him. It just doesn't have to be Michael who does it," Alec said, then added, "The spell... it's going to be a team effort. Angels, humans, and monsters, working together. We could use your help, Raphael."

Raphael clenched his jaw. "I may not be able to force you to take back your grace, but I'm not helping you with your fool's errand."

There was a fluttering sound, and Alec found himself all alone in the woods. Above him, the sky began to lighten as the sun began to rise. 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I may be missing next week's update because it's GISH starting this weekend, and I don't know if I'll have time to write _and_ run around doing the crazy shit Misha has dreamt up. (I'm sure some of you know what GISH is, but for those who don't, GISH is an annual week-long international scavenger hunt organised by Misha Collins, who plays Castiel on _Supernatural_. Proceeds from participation fees and merchandise go to various charities.) Hopefully I'll get some time to write, if not I'll see you guys the week after!


	25. Changing Tracks

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _Knelt down at the crossroads_   
>  _Can’t get the devil off my mind_   
>  _Am I running away?_   
>  _Am I changing tracks?_   
>  _Am I jumping trains?_   
>  _I ain’t turnin’ back_   
>  _Well, I’m making tracks from ya, baby,_   
>  _With godspeed and help from below_
> 
> [_"Changing Tracks", Wishbone Ash_ ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBDKBcGiCZ0)

 

Alec hadn't wanted to leave Michael's grace in the tree, just in case Raphael got it in his head to come back and take it for safekeeping, and an archangel's grace sounded like the hardest spell ingredient to obtain. But how did you get angelic grace out from a tree? 

The only thing he'd brought with him was his Swiss Army knife, mostly out of the habit of not wanting to be caught unawares and unarmed. He ended up driving the blade of his Swiss Army knife into the trunk as deep as it could go, then quickly clapping the mouth of the plastic bottle he'd scavenged from a nearby trash bin over the resulting gash in the wood, terrified that the grace would zero on him like a homing device and take over his body whether he wanted it to or not. The minutes ticked by. Nothing seemed to be happening, and he was starting to feel a little stupid, considering he was still half-convinced that Raphael had made a mistake in his spellcasting.

He was just wondering how the hell he was going to explain himself if a park ranger came along, when he saw some wispy glowing stuff flowing out of the tree trunk. It was the antithesis of demon smoke - pure light instead of pure darkness, just a little blue around the edges, and airy instead of heavy. Alec watched it curl into the bottle, stretching and reaching out bright tendrils as if it was something curious and alive. He only realised there was no more of it coming out of the tree, and that he'd been staring at it long enough for the sun to have risen properly, when a sharp crack sounded behind him. He jumped and thankfully still had the presence of mind to slap the cap on the bottle, before turning around to look behind him. There was no one there - maybe it had just been a falling branch, but for all he knew it could be a bear, and wouldn't that be just fantastic on top of everything. Alec knew he had to get out of here quickly. Wildlife aside, the grace felt like a beacon for the supernatural, and Alec really didn't want to stick around to find out what was lurking in these woods when he was armed with nothing but a Swiss Army knife. 

He looked up at the gigantic tree that had been created by the grace and housed it for thousands of years. Would it die, now that Alec had removed the grace? 

"Sorry about... everything. Uh, and thanks," Alec said, awkwardly giving the trunk a pat, and oh god he was talking to a tree. He shook himself, checked that the cap of the bottle was screwed on tight, and started making his way down the paved trail for tourists. 

A quick look at a map on a signboard told him it was another half-mile trek from the tree to the ranger's station. Although the sun had risen, it was so cold out here in the mountains that Alec couldn't feel his fingers and toes anymore - in fact, it was starting to snow a little. Thankfully, the grace was warm and provided enough light for him to see in the places where the trees grew so close that the weak morning sun couldn't penetrate the canopy. He hugged the bottle closer to his body, partly to hide it from any possible curious eyes and partly to stave off the cold - between the lack of a jacket and the snow, the grace might be the only thing saving him from hypothermia. 

Also, his ass was still kind of twinging. It wasn't Magnus' fault - he'd been as gentle as he could, Alec knew that - but all this trekking was making Alec unexpectedly sore. The memory of what had happened just a few hours before sent a flush of warmth to his cheeks; then he realised with a start that he was going home to Magnus. He had no doubt that Magnus was going to be really fucking angry with him, but he would be _there_ when Alec got home. (And when had he started thinking of Ragnor's place as home?) Alec started walking a little faster. 

 

 

It was mid morning by the time he got within sight of the ranger's station. The glow of the grace wasn't so obvious now, but Alec realised that it was still a bad idea to have the grace so exposed. The bottle was too big to fit in his jeans pocket, so he was forced to rummage through another bin for a paper bag to hide its glow, and he was pretty sure Raphael would smite him into oblivion right now if he saw Alec covering Michael's angelic grace up with stuff from the trash. 

The ranger's station was empty and locked, but the lights were on in the visitor's centre a few metres away.

"Oh good lord," the elderly man who answered the door gasped when he saw Alec. He looked like he wanted to shut the door in Alec's face, and Alec didn't blame him. 

"I got lost," Alec said, hoping it was a passable explanation for being in the park so early, at a time of the year when all the camping grounds were closed. "Can I come in? It's cold."

The man stepped aside to let him in, but didn't look convinced. "Looks like you got mugged, son." 

Alec took stock of himself: no phone, no wallet, no jacket, a bruised jaw, half-frozen, and probably moving like he'd been run over by a truck. It was a fair enough assessment, but the last thing he needed was the guy to call the cops. 

"No, I'm fine," Alec said quickly. "Can I use your phone?" 

Of their ragtag little group of seven (now eight), only Izzy, Jace, Simon, and Ragnor had phones anymore. He'd memorised all their numbers by heart, but the first person he'd thought of calling was Izzy. 

She picked up the phone almost immediately. "Hello?" she asked warily, her voice barely more than a croak, hoarse from crying. 

"Izzy. It's me," Alec said softly. 

"... Alec?! But how- we thought- Raphael..." she choked out, obviously crying again. 

"Hey. It's alright, I'm ok," Alec said soothingly. "Yeah, Raphael came. But... It's a long story. I'll tell you guys when I get home." 

"And Michael?"

"Not going to be a problem for the time being," Alec said. 

He heard Izzy take a few deep breaths on the other end of the line. "You're really ok?"  

"Yeah. Other than being stuck in California," Alec replied, mentally calculating the distance he'd have to travel to get home. He was probably about one-and-a-half day's drive from Ragnor's place, and he couldn't take a plane because he didn't trust that he was going to be get his glowing bottle of angelic grace across airport customs.

"California?! I could come get you," Izzy said. 

 "What? _No_."

"I can drive!" Izzy said petulantly.  

"Yes, sure, but-" he dropped his voice, aware that the elderly centre staff was eavesdropping, "the guy who used to be Jonathan is still out there," Alec reminded her. "You guys have to stick together until I get back, ok? I'll just hitch a ride back."

As soon as he said it, he realised what a stupid idea that was. Hitch a ride across the country with a stranger, or series of strangers, while hiding a bottle of angelic grace in a flimsy paper bag? That was just asking for trouble. Plus, he didn't have any money for food and lodging. He'd have to think of something else later. 

"Um... how's Magnus doing?" he asked Izzy.

Izzy sighed. "What do you think?" 

Alec nodded absently, peeling an ancient yellowed price tag that had gotten stuck on the counter. "Can I talk to him?"

"He's not here."

"What?" Alec said, and stopped worrying the sticker.

"He's gone off with Jace. They went off before sunrise - Magnus was the one who woke the rest of us up when he discovered you'd left. I think... god, I have no idea what they're up to, but it's probably something stupid and reckless," Izzy said. "Ragnor and I tried to stop them, but Magnus insisted that it was important, and - I don't know. I'll try to get hold of Jace, let him know you're ok, and hopefully they'll come home."

Outside, a few cars had begun to trickle in. Alec knew from the park map that there was a parking space not too far away, even though it couldn't be seen from the visitor's centre. The cars probably belonged to tourists and trekkers, people who were going into the park and would likely stay in there for a few hours. Long enough that by the time they came back out of the woods, their stolen car would be long gone...

Alec wiped the surface of the counter surreptitiously with his elbow, trying to remember what other surfaces he'd touched might show his fingerprints. "I'll be home as soon as I can, Iz," he promised her, and before he put the receiver back in its cradle, he wiped it on his shirt. "Sorry. Sweaty palms," he told the guy behind the counter. 

"Ain't nobody to hitch a ride from out here. Only tourists," the man told him, proving that he'd been listening in on the entire conversation. 

"That's ok. I've just remembered that I have a friend who lives in the area. I'll walk there," Alec said. 

"Nearest town is at least 20 miles away, son. You're in no state to walk that far. Let me give you a lift," the elderly centre staff said gruffly, reaching for a coat on a hook. 

"No, it's fine, really," Alec said a little desperately. "I don't want to be any trouble." It never went well when civilians got involved in the supernatural, and as far as supernatural things went, this was big. 

"Hmm," the elderly man said, looking at Alec contemplatively. Then he handed him his coat. "Take this, at least. It's cold outside."

Alec hesitated, then accepted the coat. It wasn't going to fit very well, but it would help a little - at least until he got into a car. With all the hellhounds, demons, and angels in their lives these days, it was easy to lose sight of the reasons why they were fighting. It wasn't just for his own family; there were good people out there, ordinary people who didn't deserve to be caught in a pissing match between Heaven and Hell. 

"Thanks," he said, shrugging the coat on and tucking his precious paper bag safely under his arm. Then, giving the guy a nod, he left the warmth of the visitor's centre and stepped back out into the cold. 

There were maybe half a dozen cars in the parking lot, some of them rentals. The elderly centre staff might have been nice enough to give Alec his coat, but Alec didn't trust him not to call the cops anyway. He settled on a slightly battered-looking rental Hyundai, picking the lock as quickly as he could, and thanked his lucky stars that he'd learnt how to hotwire a car all those months ago, when they'd still been living in the Circle's headquarters. As he zoomed out of the parking lot, he saw the elderly centre staff standing in the light snow, watching him go.

 

 

Alec switched cars at the next chance he got, this time going for an expensive-looking car that would look like a more obvious target for thieves, and swiping the spare change he found in the glove compartment to get food. He dumped that car pretty quickly too, figuring that the police would be on the look-out for it. He didn't have money for a motel and wouldn't have dared to spend the night out in the open even if it wasn't so cold, because of the bottle of grace, so he ended up catching a couple of hours of sleep in the next stolen car while parked in a crowded parking lot. Alec was forced to steal another car before he got close enough to Ragnor's place that he didn't want to risk leading the police to them with a trail of stolen cars.

He called Izzy again from the town he was at, and when she came to pick him up, the first thing she did was to hug him so tightly that he couldn't breathe. 

"You're here, you're really here," Izzy mumbled into his shirt. 

"Yeah," Alec replied, hugging her back equally tightly. "We'd better get out of here, though. Before they find the car I stole."

Izzy let go and looked at him in surprise. "You stole a car and drove it all the way from California?" 

Alec snorted. "Try several cars."

Izzy was still teary-eyed, but couldn't help laughing. "Grand theft auto? _You_?" 

"I know. Why is this my life now?" Alec grumbled as they got into the car - Ragnor's, Alec couldn't help noticing. "Are Jace and Magnus not back yet?" 

Izzy bit her lower lip and shook her head. "No. Jace didn't reply to any of my messages, and when I called him it went straight to voicemail."

"GPS?" Alec asked.

"I tracked him as far as New York - then nothing," Izzy said as she got the car in gear, and Alec winced when she made a particularly sharp turning.

He didn't ask her about Max and Clary, although it was answer enough that she didn't volunteer any information either. There was no point saying it aloud and making both of them feel more hopeless and helpless than they already did. 

"What's in that bag?" Izzy asked instead. 

"Later. I don't really want to tell it more than once," Alec replied. To be honest, if he hadn't been looking inside the bag every chance he got to check that he did indeed have a plastic bottle of angelic grace in there, he'd have thought he'd hit his head really hard at some point and dreamt up the whole thing.

Izzy refused to let Alec drive, insisting that he catch some shuteye. And it wasn't that she didn't have a point - he'd been driving for 15 hours straight, and hadn't been sleeping properly for many nights now - but her tendency to make turns abruptly, even though there was hardly any traffic in the middle of the night, was making it impossible for Alec to relax, much less sleep. They reached Ragnor's place just before dawn, and Alec couldn't help but notice that there was a black car parked in front of the church - _his_ car. Which meant that Jace and Magnus were back, and hopefully none the worse for wear. 

He got out of the car, fingers digging into the paper bag in his hands a little nervously. Izzy and Jace he knew would forgive him anything, eventually. But now that he was standing here, knowing that Magnus was somewhere inside the rectory, he was a lot less sure of Magnus' reaction. On second thought, confessing his feelings and sleeping with Magnus right before leaving, when he'd thought he would never be able to come back to Magnus, and keeping Magnus in the dark about all of it, had been kind of selfish. He couldn't even begin to imagine how devastated he'd have been if their positions had been reversed. 

"It's going to be alright, big brother," Izzy said, curling her arm around his waist. 

"I hope you're right," Alec replied, putting his arm around her shoulders, and they walked towards the rectory together. 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back, and I've missed y'all! <3
> 
> Back to the regular schedule of a new chapter every Thursday ;)


	26. Wild Horses

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _No sweeping exits or offstage lines_   
>  _Could make me feel bitter or treat you unkind_   
>  _Wild horses couldn't drag me away_   
>  _Wild, wild horses couldn't drag me away_
> 
> [_"Wild Horses", The Rolling Stones_ ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQTHB4jM-KQ)

 

  

Despite the hour, all of them were awake and sitting in Ragnor's living room when Alec and Izzy came in. Jace stood up immediately, putting down the box he was fiddling with, and took a few tentative steps forward. "Alec? Is that really you?"

Alec nodded, and Jace came forward to give him a one-armed hug, the other arm going to pull Izzy closer. For a while the three of them just stood there, hugging each other. They were all together again, but Alec also felt the loss of Max even more acutely.

"Good to have you back, man," Simon told him when the Lightwoods broke apart and moved towards the table, and Ragnor nodded in greeting as well. For the first time, Alec noticed that the whole room was littered with ornate wooden boxes of different sizes - curse boxes. One of them was open on the table, and Magnus was soundly ignoring Alec while field stripping and cleaning an old-fashioned revolver.

"Is that the Colt?" Izzy asked, recognising it as well. "Is that where you guys went - to get it back?"

"Yeah, Magnus had a lot of stuff stashed in his place in Brooklyn. But the place was booby-trapped and there were minion demons guarding it, and at some point my phone got smashed," Jace explained.

"You mean like the storage locker Mum and Dad had?" Izzy asked.

"Oh, _hell_ no. I'm talking classy penthouse, serviced apartment - Magnus owns the whole building," Jace said, then nudged Alec. "Your boyfriend's got swanky digs. Awesome view of Brooklyn Bridge."

Alec nodded to indicate that he'd heard Jace, but his eyes were still on Magnus, watching him put the gun together with deft hands. Magnus' nail polish was still a little chipped, but he was wearing his rings and ear cuff again, and his make-up was back in full force - winged eyeliner so sharp it could cut someone, smoky eyeshadow, contour bringing out his cheekbones in clear relief and hair styled a few inches high. Alec wasn't used to the tight jeans and dark-coloured Henley in place of the tailored suits Magnus had worn when he was a demon, but the overall effect was still the same - Magnus seemed impenetrable, untouchable. He didn't react to Jace calling him Alec's boyfriend either. 

"What happened to you?" Ragnor asked Alec. "That looks like a rather nasty bruise." 

"Raphael punched me," Alec replied.

"What the fuck? Why?" Jace asked, already raring to go punch an archangel in the face.

"Calm down. Perhaps we should let Alec start from the beginning," Ragnor suggested.

"So, uh... Raphael woke me up in the middle of the night, and he did the spell to track Michael down, and it led us to this." Alec took a deep breath and took the plastic bottle of grace out of the paper bag, and put it on the table. Even Magnus looked up from the Colt to glance briefly at it.

"So, what, Michael came for you, but you spat him out into a bottle?" Simon asked incredulously, then must have replayed what he'd said when Jace started sniggering. "Wait. No! I didn't mean it like _that_."

"Too late," Jace said with a loud guffaw.

"Please just stop talking, Simon," Alec said stonily. 

Izzy shushed all of them impatiently. "But I don't understand! How did you trap Michael in a bottle?" 

"This is Michael's grace - his angelic essence," Alec began, then shot a glare at Jace when he started sniggering again, before continuing, "It was in a tree. Michael cut it out and fell, became human." Alec paused, unsure of how to continue, because it sounded crazy even in his head. 

"Are you saying that Michael is gone?" Ragnor prompted him with a frown. 

Alec took a deep breath. "Apparently, I'm not just Michael's vessel. I _am_ Michael."

A stunned silence greeted his words. Magnus' hands faltering for a moment as he polished the revolver was the only indication that he was paying attention to the conversation. Alec kept his head down and stared at the paper bag he was crumpling his hands, not wanting to look up to find revulsion or fear in the eyes of his siblings and friends. 

"There's probably a bad pick-up line in there somewhere," Simon joked nervously, as the silence started to become uncomfortable. "You know, did it hurt when you fell from Heaven? Never mind." 

Much to Alec's relief, Izzy put her arms around him and gave him a squeeze. "We don't care. Michael or not, you're our big brother, and nothing's going to change that, ok?"

Jace nodded. "I mean, it actually makes a hell lot of sense if you think about it. No wonder you're always behaving like you've got a Christmas tree shoved up your ass."

"Ha. Ha. You're hilarious," Alec said sarcastically, and threw the balled-up paper bag at Jace's head, the tension draining out of him now that they were mostly taking the news a lot better than he'd expected. 

"How did you figure out that you might be Michael?" Ragnor asked. 

"I told Raphael about the Book, and he said there was no way a mere vessel could have deciphered that," Alec explained, then frowned when something else clicked in his brain. "Wait - that means _Jace_ was an angel too."

There were expressions of shock all around the table, and Jace sputtered, "The fuck? How did you jump to _that_ conclusion?"  

"The angel-banishing sigil - apparently it's a thing that only the angels know," Alec said. 

"Nope. I'm not buying that," Jace said immediately. "You being a supreme being of divine justice I get, but _me_? I mean, have you seen me?"

"You're not that bad. I mean, you've got a bit of a rogue angel vibe going on, and you'd probably look pretty badass with wings and a sword..." Simon cleared his throat. "Let's pretend you didn't hear me say that."

"Huh." Jace looked surprised and pleased, then flashed Simon a cocky grin that Simon wrinkled his nose at. 

"Well, all this is very fascinating, but perhaps we have bigger things to worry about," Ragnor said dryly, then turned to Alec. "I'm assuming Raphael was not pleased when you refused to resume the mantle of the Archangel Michael."

"Yeah. No, he wasn't. Hence the-" Alec said, gesturing to his bruised jaw. 

"But you could still become Michael, if you chose to ingest that," Ragnor said, indicating the glowing bottle on the table.

"Yeah, but I don't think I want to. Plus, an archangel's grace - that's on the list of ingredients, for the spell," Alec pointed out. 

"That's two out of four of the ingredients we need," Izzy agreed, nodding.  

"But what about the other two? We could throw an apple in and hope for the best, but who or what is an alpha monster and how do we find one?" Jace asked. 

"I'm sure we need a fruit from the actual tree, not something you can get from the grocers. Besides, the fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil is unlikely to have been an apple. Scholars have suggested that it could have been a grape, pomegranate, fig, carob, citron, pear, quince, or even a mushroom," Ragnor said. 

"Great, that narrows it down, then," Jace grumbled. 

Then Magnus surprised everyone at the table by speaking up for the first time. "I know where to find an alpha werewolf." 

"A pureblood pack?" Ragnor guessed. 

"Up north. Cypress Mountain," Magnus confirmed. 

And now, why did that sound familiar? Alec frowned, then it struck him. "The little werewolf girl I asked you to help me rescue from the Circle - she had an aunt there."

Magnus behaved as if Alec hadn't spoken. He put the Colt back in its box and stood up. "I'm exhausted. I'm going to bed," he announced, and walked off. 

Alec was torn between going after him and giving him space, but just as he'd decided to go after Magnus, Ragnor caught his eye and shook his head. 

"I know him. If you push him now, he's just going to lash out at you," Ragnor said, keeping his voice low. "Give him some time to figure out his own mind." 

Alec nodded, a little disheartened. What had he expected, really? Besides, with Max and Clary missing, and the world at the brink of the Apocalypse, his love life should really be the last thing on his mind.

"Don't worry, man. He'll come around," Jace said encouragingly. "You should have seen him when we told him what you'd promised Raphael. He was ready to storm Heaven to get you back - hence, you know, all this stuff we brought back." 

"What _is_ all this stuff?" Izzy asked.

Jace shrugged. "There's some cool shit here, but Magnus isn't entirely sure what all of it is either. In the years that he was a demon, he's been collecting weapons - stuff rumoured to be powerful enough to kill angels and demons."

"Powerful enough to kill Lucifer?" Izzy asked with interest.

"Without more research, it's impossible to know," Ragnor said. "But I suggest that the rest of you get some sleep before we embark on what will undoubtedly be a very tedious project." 

Alec wanted to protest that all he needed was some coffee to keep going, but Izzy gave him a pointed look, and he decided this was one fight he wasn't going to win. 

"Is this plastic bottle a holy relic now? Will it biodegrade now that it's been touched by an angel?" Simon asked, curiously reaching out for the bottle of grace, and Alec quickly snatched it out of the way. 

"I'll hold onto it for you. I have a curse box that should be big enough for that," Ragnor offered, and Alec relinquished the bottle with just a small twinge of unease.

"Go to sleep. Things'll be better when you wake up," Izzy urged him, shoving a sleeping bag into his arms and nudging him out of the door.

 

 

Except that sleep was not in the cards for Alec. He'd gone down to the panic room with Jace after a shower and some food, so they could sleep without getting underfoot of everyone in the living room, and an hour later he was still wide awake. He really should have gotten used to Jace's snoring after a year of being forced to share crappy motel rooms with him, but it didn't help that his mind was too busy for sleep.

Despite Ragnor's warning, he found himself standing outside Magnus' room. He lifted a hand to knock on the door, then hesitated. Magnus was probably sleeping after his crazy trip with Jace to New York. From the way Jace had told it, it had involved the two of them taking out at least a few dozen demons, and many close shaves from making their way through Indiana-Jones-style booby traps - although Simon had been listening in, so Alec was inclined to take whatever Jace was saying with a very, very generous pinch of salt. 

He dropped his hand, and jumped when Magnus opened the door. "How...?" he asked, bewildered.

"Your footsteps," Magnus explained curtly. "Is there a reason why you're loitering outside my door?" 

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you that I'd promised to say 'yes' to Michael," Alec said quickly.

Magnus rolled his eyes and started to close the door. Alec leaned his weight on the door; Magnus immediately let go, causing Alec to stumble, then forcibly shoved the door shut while Alec was still trying to regain his balance.

"Magnus, wait! Fuck," Alec sighed. Going back down to the basement seemed like too much effort, especially since he wasn't going to be getting any sleep anyway. He slumped down to the floor, leaning back against Magnus' door.

Ten minutes later, Alec almost fell backwards when Magnus opened the door again. 

"Why are you still here?" Magnus snapped.

"Magnus, please. Let me explain," Alec said, scrambling to his feet.

"There's nothing to explain. You said that you'd be back - you lied to me, Alexander," Magnus bit out. "Even when I was a demon, I told you only the truth. And don't give me some bullshit like 'I lied to you to protect you'." 

"No. You're right. It was selfish," Alec admitted. "I lied to you because I didn't want to think about what I would have to do, because I just wanted to have a little bit of happiness with you, even if it was only going to be for a while. I'm so sorry, Magnus."

Magnus scowled at Alec, then let out a loud put-upon sigh, and stepped into Alec's space. "Don't break my heart all over again, you idiot," Magnus said fiercely, then pulled him down to kiss him.

Alec was caught off guard, but couldn't help moaning when Magnus took the opportunity to thrust his tongue into Alec's mouth. Magnus dragged him into his room and slammed the door behind him.

They crashed onto the bed together, trying to pull off clothes between fevered kisses in a desperate attempt to get skin on skin as quickly as possible. Alec almost laughed when Magnus snapped his fingers, forgetting that he didn't have powers anymore, and cursed in frustration when he had to stop kissing Alec briefly to grab the lube from the nightstand drawer. 

There would be other opportunities to take each other apart slowly, to make love to each other with reverence and tenderness. Right now Alec just needed this moment with Magnus, to know that they were here, together, and that this was real and not a dream. He moaned helplessly as they fucked into the slick pressure of their entangled hands in tandem, the feeling of Magnus hard length sliding against his own so incredible that he was falling over the edge before he knew what had hit him. His come added to the slickness between their cocks, and it only took a few more strokes for Magnus to reach his climax as well, spilling over Alec's abs with a low groan of Alec's name.

 

 

Alec woke up from the best sleep he'd had in ages, despite the mess of come and lube drying on his body, with Magnus' warm body pressed flush against his back. Outside, the sun had set - they'd slept the day away, but Alec couldn't help but think that it was a rest they'd both earned. He'd never had the chance to wake up like this with Magnus, their previous trysts always having been clandestine meetings and frenetic fucking in hotel rooms or weird places. And god, it made him want to fight so much harder for the joy of having this for years more to come. The Apocalypse could go and screw itself. As he stirred in Magnus' arms, he felt Magnus wake up with a start behind him, arms tightening around his waist in an almost panicked way that made his heart ache.

"Hey. I'm not going anywhere," he promised Magnus, lifting one of his hands to his lips. 

Magnus relaxed, then made a disgruntled noise when he noticed the mess they'd made of each other and the sheets. "I've spoiled you terribly with my powers, darling, for you to have let us fall asleep like this." 

"I don't care," Alec said earnestly. 

"You would say that," Magnus said, kissing Alec's bare shoulder, making him shiver. He was quiet for a while, then whispered, "Alexander, don't ever make me go through that again. Thinking that I'd lost you... I've done some terrible things, things I'm not proud of. But I would have done all of them all over again, demon or not, if it meant I could get you back."

Alec swallowed hard and nodded. "From now on, whatever comes, we'll face it together."

"It's a deal," Magnus replied with a small smile. Alec laughed softly and turned around in Magnus' arms to kiss him properly.

Magnus ran a hand lightly down Alec's back, then grabbed a handful of his ass and pulled him closer, slotting their hardening cocks together. Alec gasped into Magnus' mouth and kissed him harder, one hand cupping the back of Magnus' head as he rutted against him. Then all of a sudden, Alec could have sworn that he could feel the ground shaking. 

They broke off in surprise - it wasn't just his imagination. Magnus' rings were jumping and clattering on the nightstand, and the bottle of lube fell over; the whole bed was shaking violently, like the earth was a monstrous beast coming alive, and the walls were creaking from the strain of the tremors, one long crack starting to work its way up to the ceiling. Were earthquakes common in Illinois? Somehow Alec doubted it, because when the fuck did they ever get to catch a break?

They grabbed their clothes and got dressed quickly, the situation too dire to warrant taking time to clean up. Alec didn't really know what to do in an earthquake, but being under the roof of the old rectory didn't seem like a good idea right now.

They stumbled their way outside to find that the rest of them had had the same idea - the last one out of the rectory was Ragnor, clutching a large wooden curse box that Alec immediately knew contained Michael's grace. 

But the earthquake wasn't even the most troubling part. It was twilight now, and the moon was rising - a huge, blood-red moon, hanging low in the sky and sending chills down Alec's spine. Just as suddenly as it had started, the ground stopped trembling beneath their feet, but the ominous moon remained. 

"What the fuck is going on?" Simon asked. 

" _Th_ _ere was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood; For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?_ " Ragnor recited grimly. "It is a sign. Lucifer has broken the Sixth Seal of the Apocalypse."

 

 


	27. Angels Have Mercy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _Look in the mirror, and what do you see?_   
>  _Reflections of a person that used to be_   
>  _You're running 'round town, creating bad debts -_   
>  _Let's face it, baby, your life is a mess_
> 
> [_"Angels Have Mercy", Wishbone Ash_ ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G3YW5f5dDFo)

 

 

Izzy's dedicated researching found proof that the earthquake they'd felt wasn't an isolated incident. Within the hour, she found reports from all over the world - a 7.6 earthquake in Portland, an 8.1 in Boston, and more in Hong Kong, Berlin, and Tehran.

"Ok, we're running out of time, so we're going to have to split up to get this spell done," Jace said. "I'll go with Simon to get one of each of those possible fruits of knowledge or whatever from the nearest supermarket, Alec and Magnus can go get the werewolf blood, and Ragnor can throw it all together, because Izzy is not allowed to do anything even vaguely resembling cooking." 

"It's not that _simple_ ," Ragnor said in exasperation. 

"How do you extract a sliver of a soul?" Izzy asked, pointedly ignoring Jace's jibe and poring over the translation Alec had written out for them. 

"You'll need a witch to do that. And probably a witch to put this spell together," Magnus said reluctantly.

Ragnor sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "You mean Camille."

"Who?" Alec asked, puzzled by the sheepish expression on Magnus' face. 

"One of my ex-girlfriends was a witch," Magnus said.

"Wait. Literally?" Jace asked. 

Magnus rolled his eyes. "Yes. Literally."

"And figuratively," Ragnor muttered under his breath. 

"Was this before or after you became a demon?" Jace asked.

"Before," Magnus answered with narrowed eyes, clearly daring Jace to say more on the matter. Jace put his hands up in surrender. 

"But she can be trusted to help us?" Alec asked, and Ragnor snorted loudly. 

"I wouldn't go so far as to trust her, no. But if we have something she wants, she could be persuaded to accept it as payment for her services," Magnus said. 

"That doesn't sound promising," Simon said nervously. "What's a witch likely to want in payment? An unlimited supply of newt eyes? A Nimbus 2000?"

"More like dead babies' fingers and someone's still-beating heart," Jace said darkly.

"Couldn't we find another witch? Seems rather risky to be entrusting Magnus' soul to someone with a personal vendetta against him," Izzy said with a frown.  

"For a spell this complex and powerful, we need a natural-born witch, not one who is borrowing their magic from a demon, and those are rare," Magnus explained. "We're running out of time, and even if you could find another one, there's no guarantee that they'll be any more trustworthy. I think it's very much a case of 'better the devil you know'."

"Alright, fine. Magnus calls up his ex, Alec and I go for the werewolf blood-" Jace began; then there were fluttering sounds all around them, and a bunch of strangers materialised in Ragnor's living room. There was a mix of men and women, but they were all dressed in sharp suits - _angels_.

Magnus was the first on his feet, the Colt already in hand, and moved to cover the rest of them. Five bullets currently loaded inside that thing, the only weapon they had that worked against angels, and five angels; Alec wasn't sure how good a shot Magnus was, but he didn't like their odds at all. Ragnor caught his eye and nodded, then started edging towards the wall - it was lucky that they knew of an angel banishing sigil, at least.

"What do you want with us?" Alec demanded, trying to stall for time.

"We know you are Michael's vessel," one of them said. "Lucifer has risen, has broken all but one of the Seals, and still you will not say 'yes'." 

"Yeah about that... I don't suppose Raphael has said anything," Alec said. 

"Raphael told us not to come to you, that it was our Father's will that it would always come down to your choice," another one said, stepping closer. "But we don't think you understand the consequences of your willfulness. Every day we are one step closer to Hell on earth, for all of creation."

"No, I do know what the consequences are, and that's precisely why I'm not changing my mind," Alec said firmly. 

"Free will is such a bitch, huh? Bet Daddy regrets it so much right now," Jace taunted them.    

"Silence, human!" one of them growled, and Jace gasped, clutching his abdomen and falling to his knees. 

"Jace! What are you doing to him?" Izzy cried out, rushing towards him, then suddenly doubled over in pain. 

Magnus only had the time to fire off one shot. His aim was true, hitting one of the angels squarely in the chest; then he was clutching his throat, looking like he was struggling to breathe. Everyone in the room, all the people Alec loved, were now writhing on the floor, incapacitated and in agony. Before Alec could do anything to help them, he too was falling to his knees, the breath knocked out of his lungs by the sudden searing pain in his stomach. 

"You're going to say 'yes', Alec Lightwood. Or you will watch everybody you care about die, slowly and painfully, in front of your eyes," one of the angels said, then aimed a vicious kick at Magnus' wrist, breaking the bone and putting the Colt out of reach. "Starting with this one."

Alec spat out a mouthful of blood, and was about to try to explain why he _couldn't_ say 'yes', when a burnished golden blade was driven through the throat of the angel who had just spoken. Bright light poured out from the wound and the angel's eyes and mouth, and he crumpled into a heap. Alec only had time to register that the pain in his abdomen was gone when two more angels fell in rapid succession with a bright burst of light. As the second angel fell to the floor, Alec finally saw that their rescuer was Raphael.  

The last angel standing was staring in fury at Raphael, and had drawn her own blade - silver, instead of gold. "What are you doing, Raphael? Why are you taking their side, and killing us? We are your brothers and sisters!" 

"You had orders not to approach Alec Lightwood. You defied your orders," Raphael said.  

"Orders from who - you?" she said scornfully. "You might be the only archangel left in Heaven, but you are not God. When Michael returns, he will lead us to glorious victory-" she was interrupted by the loud bang, and a bullet hole in her forehead, and she fell down dead.

As she fell, Alec saw a scorch mark spread across Ragnor's living room carpet, in the shape of enormous wings. He looked around and saw that all the dead angels had burned the image of their wings a few feet across from where they had fallen, blackening the carpet, furniture, and wallpaper in the their wake. Magnus barely spared the dead angel a glance before turning the Colt on Raphael, holding his injured hand close to his body.  

"You can't kill me with that," Raphael said. 

"Oh, I know that. I was there when Ragnor tried to shoot Lucifer with this, and he said there were five things that couldn't be killed - I'm assuming that's the four archangels and God himself. Well, this might not kill you, but I know it'll still hurt," Magnus said through gritted teeth. "So maybe you should run along and keep a better eye on your angels, because your kind are not welcome here."

Raphael frowned at Magnus. "Who are you? You seem familiar, but..." His expression cleared. "One of the Princes of Hell," he said in recognition. "But you are human now! How did this happen? Did our Father...?" He looked hopefully at Alec, as if expecting Alec to tell him it'd been some sort of divine miracle.

"It was a ritual in the book," Alec explained. "One of the spell ingredients."

Raphael deflated a little, then squared his shoulders. "I came to plead with you, to try to get you to see reason. I thought that you had been misled by a false message. But if a Prince of Hell can be human again, perhaps it is a sign... perhaps our Father did intend for this to come to pass all along. After all, you were supposed to lead us, Michael. And if this is the path you have chosen, I will follow."

"It's Alec. Not Michael," Alec reminded him. Raphael heaved a sigh of resignation.

"Wait. So are you going to help us complete the spell?" Simon asked, and when Raphael nodded he let out a loud whoop of joy.  

"What are you so happy about?" Jace asked sourly. 

"Angel on the team! That's got to be a good thing," Simon replied, and bumped shoulders with Jace. "Don't tell me you're jealous." 

"Of him? Oh please," Jace scoffed, sending a challenging glare Raphael's way. 

Raphael frowned at him in incomprehension, and elected to ignored him. He stepped towards Magnus and tapped his injured wrist before he could jerk away. 

Magnus rotated his newly-healed wrist and hummed. "I suppose you could be useful to have around after all."

 

 

"The tree of knowledge of good and evil still stands within the Garden of Eden. I should be able to obtain a fruit for you with little trouble," Raphael said, after they'd gotten him up to speed.

"Brilliant. That's settled, then. Raphael will take Alec and Jace to the werewolf pack before he goes back to Heaven for the fruit, and Magnus and I will go to Camille," Ragnor said. "With luck, we should be able to cast the spell by tomorrow." 

"And we're going to need a way to keep the angels away from all of us," Alec interjected. "We don't need more of them swooping in and messing up our plans."

"I have given orders that the angels should leave you alone," Raphael said.

"Hmm, yes. That went well," Magnus said pointedly. 

"Warding symbols? There must be something," Izzy said. 

Raphael furrowed his brows, thinking. "I could place warding symbols on you to make you untraceable, and teach you the symbols to ward this place from unwanted angelic intruders." 

"Ok, warding on the rectory I get, but what do you mean _on_ me? Like a tattoo?" Alec asked warily. 

"No. Skin can get torn, scratched. It would be better if I carved the Enochian sigils directly onto the ribs of you - and your siblings as well. In case they try to find you through them." 

"That does not sound like my idea of fun," Jace muttered, but came closer so Raphael could put his hands on him.

Raphael did Alec first. Alec gasped when it felt like his upper body had been set on fire, a burn that lingered deep in his bones long after Raphael had removed his hands. Magnus crossed the room immediately to get to Alec's side and check that he was ok, shooting Raphael a suspicious glare.

"What the fuck!" Jace yelped, clutching his chest in pain and surprise as Raphael moved on to them, and Izzy inhaled sharply. 

"How are you going to get to Jace and me home if you can't sense us any more?" Alec wheezed out, patting Magnus' hand on his shoulder reassuringly. 

That gave Raphael pause. "I suppose we could agree on a time and place."

"Here," Izzy said, and handed him her cellphone. "So we can call you."

Raphael accepted it with a puzzled look and a frown. "Is that all? Are you ready to leave?" he asked Alec and Jace.  

"One last thing - perhaps if you could take a look at these and tell us if you know what they are," Ragnor said, gesturing at some of the curse boxes from Magnus' stash that they'd been looking through in an attempt to find something valuable enough to catch Camille's fancy.

Raphael walked over to examine the items; most of them were antique weapons with various levels of magic and curses imbued in them, but he paused at an unassuming chunk of wood with specks of gold paint, wrapped in a scrap of silk.

"Where did you find this?" he demanded. 

"It's an artifact recovered from an archaeological dig in World War II, which I procured at a considerable expense. Why?" Magnus asked. 

"It's a piece of the Ark of the Covenant," Raphael said reverently. 

"What, like from _Indiana Jones_?" Simon asked in confusion.

"It's a Hand of God - something that our Father touched when He was still... around," Raphael explained. "It contains a fraction of His power."

"Enough to kill Lucifer?" Izzy asked hopefully. 

"Perhaps. I am not certain," Raphael said, wrapping it back and placing it back its box carefully. "But no mortal can wield it and survive."

"Well, lucky we've got an angel on our side, then," Simon said brightly. 

But it was the next item that Raphael unwrapped that really unnerved the archangel. He couldn't even speak, holding the spear gingerly as if he expected it to hurt him if he held it too tightly. His eyes lingered on the runes or symbols carved in the handle and blade, then offered it to Alec wordlessly.

"What is this?" Alec asked as he accepted it. 

"It's your lance - Michael's lance. The weapon you used to defeat Lucifer when he rose against our Father, the weapon that sent the Devil to Hell," Raphael explained. 

"Not Michael," Alec reminded him absently, but he was too distracted by the weapon. It did feel very comfortable in his hands, and Alec had a feeling that even though he had never used a lance in his life, he would have no problems using this one.

Raphael turned to Magnus. "This weapon would have been incredibly dangerous to obtain. Prince of Hell or not, you must have taken a great risk to acquire it - if it had been found in your possession, the punishment you would have faced would have made even a demon like you wish for death. Why would you go to such lengths to hoard such a thing? I thought all demons served Lucifer." 

Magnus was silent for a long time. "I guess I was still human enough to feel guilty."   

"For?" Alec asked, frowning. "Magnus, becoming a demon wasn't your fault." 

"Oh, but as my infernal father Asmodeus delighted in reminding me, _I_ started the Apocalypse," Magnus said bitterly. "So it's only fitting that I should at least try to stop it."

"What do you mean?" Jace frowned. 

"The six hundred and sixty-six locks on Lucifer's cage - if I hadn't broken the First Seal, none of this would have happened. Lucifer would never have been able to walk free." 

"You broke the First Seal. Asmodeus told you this?" Raphael asked, and Magnus nodded reluctantly. 

"What was the First Seal?" Jace asked, but Magnus simply clenched his jaw and refused to answer.

Instead, it was Raphael who answered. "And it is written, the First Seal shall be broken when a Righteous Man sheds blood in Hell. As he breaks, so shall it break." 

"The Righteous Man? Magnus is... you said it was my duty - Michael's duty. That Michael was supposed to rescue him from Hell," Alec whispered, horrified. "So all those years Magnus was left in there - it was because of _me_?"

The harsh silence in the room was broken only by Magnus standing up abruptly and leaving the room. Alec didn't even try to stop him - he couldn't blame Magnus for not wanting to be anywhere near him right now. _Alec_ didn't want to be near himself right now.

Alec wrapped the lance up and put it back in the box, trying not to meet the eyes of anybody else in the room. "Raphael, we're ready to go."

"But-" Izzy began to protest.

"We're running out of time," Alec reminded her.

"Then I'll go with you," she said, standing up, and Alec really wished she wouldn't, because he didn't want to think about it, and Izzy was going to push the issue. But still he took her hand and nodded at Raphael, then closed his eyes as the archangel brought them away. 

 


	28. Of Wolf and Man

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _Shape shift, nose to the wind_   
>  _Shape shift, feeling I've been_   
>  _Move swift, all senses clean_
> 
> [_"Of Wolf and Man", Metallica_ ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gowl6yFG6rU)

 

 

Alec wanted to blame the sick feeling in the pit of his stomach on the disorientation from Raphael teleporting them from one place to the other, but he knew better. He put an arm around Izzy to steady her - they were somewhere deep in the Cypress Mountains now, most of the terrain rocky and uphill. Raphael had brought them to a spot less than half a mile from the werewolf pack's den, which Magnus had marked out on a map.  

"If I do not hear from you, I will return whenever I have successfully obtained the fruit," Raphael suggested. 

Alec nodded, and Raphael was gone. 

"You're going to be alright in those heels?" Alec asked Izzy.

"There's nothing I can't do in heels," she said smugly, then grew serious. "Alec, you have to talk to Magnus." 

Alec ignored her resolutely and began walking, keeping to the edge of the treeline.

"You're just going to walk away?" she demanded. 

"What am I supposed to do? 

"Alec-" She grabbed him by the arm, forcing him to look at her. "What you and Magnus have... I've never seen you so into someone, and I saw how happy you both were after you made up with him yesterday. The both of you have been through so much. You can't give up now!"

"It's not just about what _I_ want." He sighed. "Look, it's been messed up from the start, but this is even worse than falling for a demon who owns my soul. He was tortured in Hell for 200 years, Iz. He became a demon _because_ of me, because I didn't get him out of there. All the stuff he's done, all the stuff that he's ashamed of and is eating away at his conscience - that's on me now." 

"But you didn't _know_ ," she protested. 

"And now I do. We do." Alec swallowed hard and shook his head. "Drop it, Iz. We've got a job to do."

"I'm not dropping it, unless you promise me that you'll go talk to him when we get back," Izzy said stubbornly. "At least give yourselves a chance to talk it out."

"Iz..."

"Don't make me lock the two of you in the panic room," she threatened.

"Yes, ok. _Fine_ ," Alec bit out. 

Izzy started to grin at him, then her eyes widened in surprise at something behind Alec.  

Alec turned sharply. There was a burly black man standing a few feet away. He was dressed in practical t-shirt, jeans, and a thick jacket, and at first glance he seemed human enough - except that the moment he saw their faces clearly, his eyes began to glow green. 

" _Hunters_ ," he growled.

"No! No, we just want to talk!" Alec said quickly, moving slightly in front of Izzy.

"I know who you are," the werewolf said through a mouthful of lengthening teeth. "You're the spitting image of Maryse. You must be from the Circle."

"Wait, you knew our parents?" Izzy asked. 

The werewolf ignored her. "Did Valentine send you?"  

"Valentine is dead," Alec said, then playing on a hunch, added, "I killed him. The Circle is gone, I think. Or overrun with demons now." 

"Demons?" The werewolf frowned, then with visible effort, retracted his teeth and claws, although his eyes remained a luminous green. Alec had never seen anything like this - a werewolf who had such complete control of their transformation. "Why are you here?" 

"We need to speak to your Alpha. It's really urgent," Izzy said. 

"If it has anything to do with demons, the Pack wants nothing to do with it," he said warningly, the piecing gaze he landed on Alec making him suspect that the werewolf had been listening in on his entire conversation with Izzy, courtesy of his werewolf hearing. 

"You were part of the Circle," Alec hazarded a guess. 

The werewolf hesitated, then nodded. "I was turned in a botched up job a couple of decades ago. Ended up here." 

There seemed to be rather a lot of story missing between when he'd been turned and how he'd ended up here, but Alec didn't blame him for not wanting to go into it. "Then you should know what Valentine's plans were." 

"Bringing about the Apocalypse?" the werewolf asked with a frown, then looked uneasy. "The earthquakes, and the blood moon... Are you saying that he succeeded in starting something?"  

"Well... Not entirely to his credit, but yes," Alec said. "Which is why we need to talk to your Alpha."

"Why should we trust a couple of hunters?" the werewolf asked, crossing his arms.

"A few months ago, the Circle captured a werewolf family, with a little girl. I was the one who broke her out and sent her here for refuge. To her Aunt Maia?" Alec said. 

"She said you summoned a crossroad demon and made a deal with it so it would bring her to safety," the werewolf said. 

"I did," Alec admitted. 

The werewolf snorted loudly. "Who would've thought - a selfless Lightwood. Or maybe you've just got your mother's stubbornness about not doing things by half-measures." He looked both of them up and down closely, then said, "Show me that knife in your boot, kid." 

Alec took it out and presented it readily - just a plain, ordinary knife - and was glad that he'd ignored Ragnor insisting that it was foolhardy to go into a werewolf den without carrying any silver. 

"And from the shape of it, I'm guessing Swiss Army knife," the werewolf said, indicating his jeans pocket. 

"Yeah," Alec agreed, showing it to him and wondering how the hell the werewolf had been able to tell that. 

"And you. Show me the bullets in that gun of yours."

Izzy obliged. "Just salt rounds. And that's the only weapon I have on me," she said, conveniently neglecting to mention that the decorative chopsticks in her hair were tipped with silver. 

That seemed to satisfy him. "Come along, then." He beckoned to them and started to lead them through the thick undergrowth. 

"Wait, I think I know who you are. Are you Lucian Graymark?" Izzy asked. 

The werewolf glanced back over his shoulder. "It's just Luke now," he said gruffly, and continued walking. 

 

 

The pack's stronghold wasn't exactly what Alec had been expecting. From what he'd seen of werewolves, they were normal humans except during the full moon, when they became completely feral and destructive - no in-between. Werewolves also lived on a diet of animal organs, preferably human hearts. This meant that they often ended up having to live in decrepit places, where their activities would be more likely to go unnoticed. But the small cluster of log cabins in the clearing could have passed off as pleasant summer holiday homes. There was a shared electricity generator, and people just milling around going about their daily business. There were less than twenty cabins arranged in a system Alec didn't quite understand, with a couple of newer-looking ones nearer to the edge of the woods, and a larger building in the middle that looked like it might be some sort of communal centre. The only signs of something being slightly amiss was the large amount of bleached animal bone and cured rawhide hanging out to air. 

"Who do you have there, Luke?" a girl who looked like she might be about Izzy's age called out as they approached. "New wolves?" 

Luke shook his head. "Maia, help me gather everyone. We're holding a meeting." She gave them one last curious glance, and nodded.

By the time Maia had helped gather all the werewolves in the communal building, Alec was completely on edge and slightly regretting not bringing any silver - not that it would have been any use against 30 adult werewolves and a handful of adolescents and children. They were all gathered in the largest cabin, which looked like it might serve as a mess hall, and all curious eyes were on them. Maia was the last in with the little werewolf girl Alec had rescued, and when she saw him she gasped loudly in recognition. He gave her a small smile and an awkward wave, which she returned shyly, and Maia stared at them both. 

Luke cleared his throat. "As you can see, we have visitors today, and they've brought unsettling news with them that could mean danger for the Pack. But they are also the children of people I used to know from my other life as a hunter, and I wanted this meeting to be held in front of all of you so all of you can see that any decisions made were made for the benefit of the Pack."

A wave of worried muttering went through the gathered werewolves, and more than a few hostile glares were aimed at Alec and Izzy. 

"What could be serious enough to justify working with hunters?" one guy demanded.  

Alec took a deep breath. "Someone has released Lucifer from Hell. If we don't stop him, it's the end of the world."

A great uproar greeted his words, some of the werewolves getting so agitated that they stood up and started moving forward. 

"And what do you want from us? You want to use us as cannon fodder against the Devil?" another of them sneered. 

"That's enough. Let them finish what they have to say," Luke said sternly, and to Alec's surprise, everyone quietened down. 

"We're not asking you to fight. We have a plan, a spell that we found. All we need is the blood of an Alpha werewolf," Izzy assured them. "Except... Luke is the Alpha, isn't he? And he can't be what we're looking for - Magnus said that an Alpha monster is the first monster, the first of its kind to walk the earth. But Luke was bitten and turned."

"Blood? That's all? How much of it?" Luke asked. 

"Just a vial of it," Izzy replied. 

"And what does this spell do?" Maia asked skeptically. "If any magic was powerful enough to kill the Devil, it must demand a real sacrifice. That's always the way these things work." 

"The spell will stop the Apocalypse from happening, but it won't kill Lucifer. But one step at a time, you know? Lucifer is too close to breaking the last Seal," Izzy said. 

"Why don't we just let Lucifer and Michael fight it out? We're good people. We have nothing to fear," another werewolf chimed in. 

"Michael is... out of commission," Alec replied, to some disbelieving whispers.

"You know what, we're going to need some actual proof," Maia said challengingly, and quite a few of the werewolves nodded in agreement. 

"Fine," Izzy said, and snatched Alec's phone from his jacket pocket, jabbing at it before lifting it to her ear. "Raphael? We need you to come here."

Within seconds, Raphael was standing in the middle of the room, a budging canvas bag in slung over one shoulder.

He looked around and frowned at the shocked faces from the gathered werewolves. "Are you ready to leave? Where's the blood?" 

Izzy sighed. "Raphael, they wanted proof that we're telling the truth about the Apocalypse." 

Raphael nodded solemnly. "I am the Archangel Raphael, and I can vouch that Lucifer is indeed walking the earth."

"That proves nothing," Maia pointed out. "He could just be a demon claiming to be an angel."

"I'm not a demon," Raphael said, and his eyes began to glow. The room suddenly seemed to grow darker, and on Raphael's shadow cast on one of the walls, Alec saw the clear shape of large wings unfolding. 

"Wow," Maia murmured as everything began to go back to normal. 

"Do you believe us now?" Izzy asked.  

Luke cleared his throat. "Well, the thing is, our kind are not immortal, not even the first of us to walk the earth," Luke said. "But in our pack we do have a direct descendant of the Alpha, a pureblood lycantrope." 

Alec followed his gaze to the little girl he'd rescued, the only one of her family who had survived. What were the fucking chances? 

Raphael approached the little girl, crouched down, and held out his hand. "You won't feel a thing," he promised. 

She put her hand in his; Raphael closed his eyes, and after a few seconds, got up with a glass vial of blood in his hand. Alec almost couldn't believe it - a list of impossible ingredients, and now they'd gotten the last one. 

"Time is of the essence. We must go," Raphael said brusquely, placing a hand on Alec and Izzy's shoulders. And before Alec had even had the chance to thank Luke for his help, he was standing in front of the rectory. 

 

 

Alec's first thought was to look for Ragnor's car, and was both relieved and nervous to find it parked at its usual spot - which meant that Magnus was probably back as well.

Raphael held the canvas bag and vial of blood out to Alec. "I must go back to my post in Heaven. I suspect that the angels that were killed would have been missed by now, and I must find out how many other dissenters there are." 

"Don't you want to be around when the spell is cast?" Izzy asked. 

Raphael hesitated, then shook his head. "You must understand... Once Michael's grace is used up in the spell, my brother is lost to me forever. I think I would rather not have to bear witness to that." 

Alec hadn't thought of it that way. But Raphael caught the look on his face and said, "You do not need to apologise. You have made your choice, and I have accepted it. Without any memories of who you once were, you might as well be a different person, anyway." With that Raphael was gone.

"That went well," Alec muttered.  

"He's got a point though. You're not Michael, you're Alec Lightwood. Isn't that what you've been telling him?" Izzy said. "And don't forget that you promised to talk to Magnus."

Alec sighed. 

They got in to the rectory to find Ragnor and Magnus clearing the desk in preparation for casting the spell, and a petite, dark-haired woman dressed in a well-cut long velvet gown lounging indolently in Ragnor's favourite chair. This had to be the witch, Camille. She raised an eyebrow when they came in, and Alec could feel her appraising gaze almost like a physical touch, making his skin crawl. 

"Who do we have here, then?" she purred. 

"Gay as hell and not interested in you," Jace said from where he was huddled on the couch with Simon, practically draping himself over him as if to block him from Camille's sight. 

"That can always be changed, if I so desire," she replied slyly. Jace made a sound of outrage.  

"That's disgusting, Camille," Magnus agreed, straightening up.

He met Alec's eye and gestured that he should follow him out of the room. Heart in his throat, Alec handed Izzy the precious spell ingredients and followed Magnus down the hallway and into Magnus' room. 

Magnus shut the door behind Alec and turned to face him. Alec wasn't sure what to expect, but he wasn't expecting Magnus to say, "I'm sorry I walked out."

"What? No, Magnus, _I'm_ the one who should be sorry, I-" 

Magnus hushed him gently. "I know you, darling, and I know that you've probably been blaming yourself this whole time. I didn't handle it well, but it was just a lot to process in the moment, and I needed some time. I don't blame you," Magnus insisted.

"You should," Alec said angrily. "You had to suffer the torments of the Pit for 200 years, because I couldn't face the fact that God had fucked off somewhere-"

Magnus took a deep breath. "Alexander, it's not your fault. You are not Michael."

"But-"  

"You are _not_ Michael. The man I fell in love with is Alexander Gideon Lightwood, and that's all that matters - not what came before, and what was supposed to lie ahead," Magnus said. "Have you ever considered that if you were still an angel and I never became a demon, we wouldn't have this, now? For whatever reasons, our choices have led us to where we are."

"I can't forgive myself," Alec admitted.  

"There's nothing to forgive. Ragnor, despite being the grumpy old fart that he is, does give the best advice. He spent most of the trip to Camille's lecturing me about the virtues of living in the present, and of learning to forgive myself for imaginary sins," Magnus said, reaching out to take Alec's hands, and looked immensely relieved when Alec let him. "I'm not a demon, and you're not an angel, not anymore. We're just us. And we promised each other that we would face anything together." 

"Ok," Alec said, then added honestly, "I'll try."

Magnus smiled and kissed him. "I must admit, I feel a lot better facing Camille now that we've put that behind us. She's a wily snake, far too good at exploiting weaknesses. I told her very briefly what the spell was about, and nobody has told her what part any of us have played in this whole mess, but I wouldn't be surprised if she figures it out."

"What did she ask for in payment, for performing the spell?" Alec asked.

"A favour. To be claimed whenever she pleases."

Alec frowned. "I don't like the sound of that."

"Me neither," Magnus admitted. "But what choice do we have?"  

There was a knock on the door, and Simon's voice drifted through the thin plywood. "Guys, it's time to do the thing. Please don't be naked." 

Alec rolled his eyes. "Not like he hasn't already seen it all," he muttered. 

"...What?" Magnus asked, brows furrowed.

"Not important. I'll explain later." 

Magnus shrugged it off. "Ready?" 

Alec hesitated. "Give me the Colt. Just in case Camille tries any funny business."

"Didn't peg you as the jealous boyfriend type," Magnus teased as he handed the Colt over. 

"I'm not jealous. Just being cautious," Alec said, tucking the revolver into the waistband of his jeans. "And _now_ I'm ready. Here goes Team Free Will, I guess."

 


	29. The King Will Come

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _In the fire, the king will come_   
>  _Thunder rolls, piper and drum_
> 
> [_"The King Will Come", Wishbone Ash_ ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tna0Mmu1XlI)

 

 

Alec watched with unease as Camille started to light the fat black candles that were standing all around the scarred surface of Ragnor's desk. They hadn't told Camille the full story of course. She'd only been given the bits of the translation with the instructions, and the ingredients had been slightly mislabelled; the fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil looked exactly like a quince, and werewolf blood was a common enough ingredient. But there was no hiding the unusual quality of the archangel's grace or the fact that they needed a sliver of Magnus' soul, and Alec was sure Camille could figure out the gist of the intention of the spell from the incantation.

"Why do we need this chick to light a bunch of candles and mutter some latin, again?" Jace asked Alec in a low voice. "The soul extracting part might be tricky, but our grumpy feathered friend could probably point us in the right direction. I don't see why we can't do it ourselves."

"Oh, I'm sorry. I wasn't aware that any of you had spent centuries of your life mastering the intricacies of high witchcraft," Camille said, smiling thinly at Jace. "I'm sure you would have no problems at all with a delicate spell like this, handling the ingredients, trying to understand the subtleties of the spell despite these crudely translated instructions. Would you like to take over instead?" 

"No, ma'm, you do your thing," Jace bit out with a forced smile. "You're looking good for your age, by the way."

Camille shot him a poisonous look, and Alec elbowed Jace with a frown. "Don't piss her off," he hissed. 

He didn't like the predatory way Camille kept looking at Magnus, and he swore he wasn't just being a jealous boyfriend. He could tell Magnus was anxious about the whole thing too, even though he looked outwardly calm - he couldn't seem to stop fiddling with the rings on his fingers, twisting them round and round. Alec sat next to Magnus on the couch and seized one of Magnus' restless hands, lacing their fingers together, and Magnus looked up at him with a small smile. 

"I still don't understand why I must work from these, instead of the original," Camille said with a scornful look at the notes. "This was obviously translated by someone who knows nothing about the craft. How would they know what to look out for?"  

"We told you the original was written in a cipher," Ragnor said with barely restrained impatience. 

"And you managed to crack the cipher, so you must have the key," Camille argued. 

"Look, we've already been through this many times. We don't have time for you to figure out the translation by yourself, Camille. And the translation is accurate," Magnus said tiredly. 

"If you say so, darling," she said, flashing him a smile. "Just don't come crying to me if your spell doesn't work." Magnus rolled his eyes at that, but didn't respond. 

 

 

When she was done with the candles, Camille began to make a big show of slicing up the fruit, then arranging them neatly at the base of a pewter bowl they had provided her. 

"I feel like that might make an interesting pie," Simon observed idly.  

Jace wrinkled his nose. "I hate pie."

Simon gasped in horror and clutched his chest. "You hate pie?! Well, that's it, that's the deal breaker. I can't date someone who hates pie." 

"Come here, Magnus darling. It's time for me to take that teeny tiny piece of your soul," Camille said, pointedly ignoring the antics of Jace and Simon.  

Magnus gave Alec's hand one last squeeze before letting it go, then went to stand in front of Camille with his fists clenched. Camille smirked at him, then placed a hand behind his head and forced him to bend down for a kiss. Magnus made a small sound of surprise, and Alec immediately stood up, but Camille was already pulling away - and in the space between her lips and Magnus' lips, Alec saw a glowing stream of something, even brighter than angel grace. 

The whole room was watching with bated breath, but as the seconds ticked by, Alec started to grow suspicious.  

"Stop! You're taking too much," Alec said, rushing forward, and Camille broke off - but Magnus immediately fell to the floor. 

"Magnus? Magnus!" Alec ran forward. He shook Magnus gently, heart in his mouth, and when Magnus opened his eyes, Alec knew something had gone horribly wrong: Magnus' eyes were blank and emotionless, with none of their usual warmth. 

"You didn't just take a sliver, you took _all_ of his soul!" Alec snarled at Camille. 

"And how would you know?" Camille said with a coy little smile, but Alec was in no mood to play games.

He drew the Colt, pointed it straight at her heart, and cocked it. "Put Magnus' soul back in his body." 

Camille threw her head back and laughed, all pretense gone now. "You can't kill me with a _gun_ , silly boy." 

"This is Samuel Colt's pistol. There are only five things in creation that can't be killed with these bullets, and you're not one of them," Alec said through gritted teeth. 

Camille stopped laughing, but still looked far too smug for Alec's liking. "Even if you kill me, Magnus will still have no soul, _and_ you'll be out of a witch to complete this great, important spell of yours."

"Is it really worth losing your life over petty revenge on your ex-boyfriend?" Alec countered. 

"Hmm. You do have a point, he's really not worth it. So let's negotiate," she purred.

"What do you want? We've already promised to owe you a favour," Alec said.

"I want the book that this spell came from," Camille said quickly.

"What?" Alec asked in confusion. 

"We can't, Alec," Izzy said immediately. "It would be dangerous in the hands of someone like her, all those powerful spells..."

_What? What powerful spells?_ The Book was basically useless now that it had served its purpose. They just hadn't wanted Camille to make the connection that the spell they were asking her to cast was of such cosmic consequence, in case she had heard the rumours about how it was a message for Michael and that it had the power to stop the Apocalypse. Alec frowned, then caught on.

"We don't have a choice, Izzy," Alec played along, though he didn't have to fake the desperation in his voice. He turned to Camille. "Fine. You can have the book. After you've completed the spell." 

"But-" Jace began, still looking very confused, and Simon promptly kicked him in the shin.  

Camille eyed them suspiciously, then smiled sweetly at Alec. "Then Magnus will get his soul back when I've got the book in my hands." 

Alec clenched his jaw. From out of the corner of his eye, he saw Ragnor nod. "Fine," he said reluctantly, not liking how close they'd be cutting it. "Then let's get on with it."

Between Ragnor and Izzy, they convinced Magnus to move out of the way and sit this one out, which they probably managed only because Magnus still seemed a little disorientated. Alec opted to stand his ground, the Colt still trained on Camille. She pretended to ignore him and continued with the spell, taking her time to pour in the vial of werewolf blood. The next was the archangel grace, and Alec couldn't help feeling a little anxious when Camille uncapped the bottle, her face twisted in a moue of distaste at having to touch the plastic bottle, but it simply pooled in the bowl, and didn't seem inclined to jump Alec. Then of course was the sliver of Magnus' soul, a thin slip of bright white light that Camille extracted from her mouth and that seemed to light up the whole room with its glow when she placed it in the bowl.

" _Ab cordis angelus, ab cruore monstrum, ab animus hominus, ab expiatium daemonium_ ," she intoned, picking up the last item, a seed from the fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, between red-taloned fingers. " _Ab ex manu Dei tolle nobis in aeternum!_ "

She threw the seed in, and the bowl exploded with pure light. The force of it was incredible - like a tsunami had hit them, knocking everyone off their feet and pressing them all down to the floor as it swept over them. It seemed impossible that such a small thing was capable of such force, the spell roaring over their heads for what felt like an age before it passed. Alec had the strange mental image of a wave of light hitting every sentient creature in Heaven and Hell and everything in between.

He was the first to pick himself up, intent on keeping an eye on Camille. He had to say that he didn't really feel any different, though - but then again he was human, and free will was a given and pretty much the only perk.

"Everyone alright?" he asked the rest. 

"Fine," Izzy said, then glared Camille. "Now give Magnus back his soul."

"Not even a word of thanks. Young people these days," Camille tutted as she got up from the floor with as much dignity as she could muster. "Let's see the spellbook, then." 

Ragnor brought the Book of Soyga out of its curse box, still wrapped up in a protective layer of oilskin, and Alec realised that luck was on their side for once. The cover of the Book was long gone, from when Alec had wrapped it around a phone directory to trick Jonathan Morgenstern. In its current state of loose, aged parchment, and with pages of it devoted to alchemy and incantations, it could pass off as a spellbook if Camille didn't have the time to examine it closely. 

"Book, and cipher key," Ragnor said gruffly, placing it on the table, and Camille reached for it greedily. 

"Not so fast. Put back Magnus' soul first," Alec barked out. 

Camille smiled at him. "I have to check it first, to make sure of its authenticity." 

Ragnor flipped through the pages briefly for her benefit. "There. Satisfied?" he asked. 

"No more games, Camille," Alec said coldly. 

Camille didn't look like she was satisfied with the glimpse of the book, but had apparently decided not to push her luck. She walked towards armchair where Magnus was sitting, and shot Alec a sly look before getting in Magnus' lap. 

"Kiss me, darling," she murmured, batting her eyes at him flirtatiously, and Alec tried not to feel sick when Magnus eagerly complied and basically started making out with her. For her part, Camille was obviously drawing it out, taking far longer to return Magnus' soul than it had taken her to steal it, but eventually Magnus gasped and pushed her off his lap. 

He stared at her in revulsion and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, then his face twisted with anger. "Get the fuck away from me," he said in a low growl.

"It's just business, love," Camille said, seizing the book with a triumphant smile. "Until we meet again." 

Alec kept the Colt trained on her while she sauntered out of the rectory, then walked over to Magnus' side with long strides. Ragnor and Izzy were already checking him over. 

"Alexander, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to-" Magnus began, looking stricken. 

Alec shook his head and held Magnus' hands in his own, heart still racing from how close he'd come to losing Magnus again. "You weren't really yourself. Camille was counting on that. How are you feeling?" 

"I'm fine. Or at least I will be after my skin stops crawling," Magnus said with a grimace. "If I never see her again, it will be too soon. God, I need mouthwash, or alcohol. Or both." 

"Kill two birds with one stone and gargle with whiskey," Jace suggested, and this time it was Izzy who kicked him in the shin.

"We still owe her a favour," Ragnor reminded them. "Or rather, Magnus does." 

"Honestly, if she shows her face again and Magnus or Alec don't put a bullet through her skull, she should count that as a favour," Simon said. 

"But the spell worked, right? That's it?" Izzy asked cautiously. 

"Yes, I suppose so. Now we just have to kill the Devil himself," Ragnor murmured.

"And on that cheerful note, I'm going to be in the bathroom, drowning myself in mouthwash," Magnus declared, heaving himself out of his chair.

_Go after him_ , Izzy mouthed at Alec. 

Alec nodded and followed Magnus out into the hallway. "Magnus, are you sure you're ok?" 

Magnus let out a hollow laugh. "I've been through worse in Hell, I promise." 

Alec placed a hand on Magnus' cheek, intending to kiss away the disgust that Camille's touch had left behind, but Magnus grasped his hand and shook his head with a smile.

"Rain check, darling," he said gently. "I wasn't kidding about the mouthwash. But after that I _will_ need you to kiss it better." 

"Ok. Whenever you need me," Alec said.

"I always need you," Magnus promised him, pressing Alec's hand to his cheek briefly before he started to walk away.  

"Magnus, I love you," Alec said softly.

Magnus turned around, his smile a little less brittle this time. "I love you, too," he said, then hesitated. "On second thought, could you wait for me in my room?"

Alec nodded and let himself in, sitting down on Magnus' bed while he waited. After a while, Magnus came in and made a beeline for Alec, burying his face in the crook of Alec's neck and hugging him tightly. Alec could smell the mint on his breath. He wrapped his arms around Magnus, and they just held each other for a while. 

"Do you think we could stay like this for five minutes without the world ending?" Magnus asked, half-joking and half-wistful.

"Wouldn't count on it," Alec admitted honestly. Magnus let out a snort of laughter, and hugged him a little tighter. 

 

 

A taxi pulled up outside the rectory later that day while they were neck deep in research books on Michael's lance and the Ark of the Covenant, and Izzy was out of the door once she caught a glimpse of the passengers.

"Max! Clary! How...?" she said in astonishment, throwing her arms around Max when he came running out of the taxi.

As it turned out, neither Max nor Clary had any money on them, so Ragnor paid the driver while the rest of them crowded round Max and Clary to show their love and relief. It was a miracle - Alec had all but given up hope, since it'd already been five days since they had been taken by Lucifer. 

"So what have you guys been up to?" Max asked. 

_Not trying hard enough to get you back_ , Alec thought guiltily. There's been so much going on after Max and Clary had been captured by Lucifer - curing Magnus, the revelation that he was Michael, and the spell - but that really didn't excuse getting distracted from rescuing your own baby brother. 

"Hey, there was a weird thing earlier today, like a shockwave of light. Was that you guys? What-" Max stopped abruptly when he saw Magnus, and did a double take. "Wait, is he human now? How did that happen?"

"It's a long story, let's go inside," Izzy suggested. "And you haven't told us how you and Clary managed to- mmph!" Izzy was cut off mid-sentence by Clary kissing her suddenly. 

"Can we talk about that later? I missed you, babe," Clary said sweetly.

Alec frowned, and caught Simon looking equally confused. Sure, Izzy and Clary had had a fling the night they'd first met, but they'd been taking it slow after they rescued Clary, what with Clary trying to adjust to her loss of vision after being possessed by Lilith. They weren't really at the 'babe' stage, and Alec was pretty sure kissing wasn't really on the cards yet, judging from Izzy's slightly shell-shocked expression.

As they walked towards the rectory, Alec noticed that Clary hung back a little, her arms wrapped around Izzy. Max paused at the door a little before walking in, and suddenly Clary picked up her pace and strolled in confidently, didn't even hesitate at the threshold, when usually she would grab at the door frame to orientate herself even if someone was guiding her. Acting on a hunch, Alec toed aside the corner of the rug at the door - the devil's trap that Ragnor had hidden under the rug was gone. 

"So what have you guys been up to?" Max asked again, looking around the room at the curse boxes and the open books on the table curiously.

Alec should have known it was too good to be true. Miracles didn't happen. They had been gone five days, and Max was barely more than a child. He hoped he was wrong, but there was one clear way to find out without hurting Max if it turned out that Alec was mistaken. He edged nearer to the half-finished angel-banishing sigil on the wall, the one Ragnor had been forced to abandon when the angels had come for them just the day before. Slipping his hand into his pocket, Alec sliced his hand open on his Swiss army knife and blocked the sigil from view with his body as he completed the design.

"Alec, what are you doing?" Max asked, his voice suddenly sharp. Before Max could raise his hand, Alec slammed his bloody palm on the sigil. 

Max's face turned ugly and venomous as he was engulfed in white light. He cried out with incoherent rage, a terrible sound in the high unbroken voice of a child, and Alec could have sworn he saw Max's eyes glow red for a split second before Max - no, _Lucifer_ \- disappeared. 

 

 


	30. God Was Never On Your Side

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _God's face is hidden, all unseen_   
>  _You can't ask Him what it all means_   
>  _He was never on your side_
> 
> _[_"God Was Never On Your Side", Motörhead_](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojOKGrvXFUE)_  
>   
> 
>  
> 
> __

 

 

The rain was coming down in droves. Even if he'd thought to bring a flashlight, Alec suspected it'd have been pretty much useless. Behind him, he could hear someone coming after him - probably Magnus, or Jace. Maybe both of them. 

Izzy hadn't taken either of the cars, and they were too far from any sizeable town for cabs. She didn't have her phone with her anymore, and Alec couldn't even call on Raphael to track her because of the Enochian sigils branded into her bones. He knew in his heart that it was hopeless trying to find her when she didn't want to be found, but he trudged on anyway, through the rain and the mud of the park behind Ragnor's place that was a shortcut to the highway, thinking that she might have tried to hitch a ride. 

"Alexander!"

A blinding beam of light cut through the darkness, and the footsteps behind him grew closer. 

"Alexander, come back inside," Magnus said, grabbing his arm.  

"I'm not giving up on her, alright!" Alec snapped, flinging Magnus' hand aside. 

"We're not giving up on her. But we have no idea where she might be," Magnus said, and Alec knew he was lying. He was lying to himself too, blundering through the park in the rain, when the sick feeling in his gut whispered that he knew exactly where Izzy had gone. 

Magnus came a little closer, approaching cautiously but determined not to let Alec push him away. He wrapped his arms around Alec, and after a while Alec gave in, hugging Magnus tightly and letting himself sink into his arms. 

"She's gone to Detroit, hasn't she?" he whispered.

Magnus pressed a kiss into his temple, and didn't answer.

 

_**-FOUR HOURS EARLIER-** _

__

"Ok, why aren't we just exorcising that demon out of Clary?" Simon demanded. 

They were standing outside the panic room, and from the window in the cast iron door Alec could look in and keep an eye on their prisoner. They had managed to subdue the demon possessing Clary with holy water before the demon could smoke out when it realised that Lucifer had been banished. The redhead was presently tied to a chair set in the middle of a devil's trap, her hands bound with the same cuffs engraved with devil's traps that they'd used on Magnus, watching them through her blank eyes as though she could still see. 

"That demon is the only chance we have of getting any information on Lucifer. We need to get it to talk, then we'll exorcise it," Alec said impatiently. 

"Oh, so it wasn't ok to torture Magnus for information to stop the hellhounds because he's your boo, but it's ok to torture Clary when it's your brother at stake?" Simon seethed. "I mean I like Max, I do, and it sucks that somehow Lucifer got him to say 'yes', but-"

"Nobody is saying anything about torture!" Izzy interrupted. "I care about Clary too, alright?" 

"Wouldn't Clary know? The last time we were possessed, we knew everything that was going on. We could just get the demon out and ask her," Jace said.  

"Not necessarily. We have no idea if Clary is awake in there. Depending on how powerful the demon is, it might have found it easier to suppress her, so it wouldn't have to deal with Clary constantly fighting for control - in which case she would have no idea of anything that's happened since she was captured," Magnus said. "If we exorcise the demon before we know for sure, and it turns out that Clary doesn't know, then we'd have lost our only source of information." 

"That thing inside her, it's not Clary, and it's best that we don't forget that. But if we injure her, Clary might not survive even after the exorcism," Ragnor reminded them. 

"Even if her body survives, her mind might not," Magnus said quietly. "Demons ride their meatsuits hard. The longer we wait, the worse it'll be for her. Let's just get this over with." He took a deep breath and pushed the door open, and everyone trailed in after him.

"You can save yourselves the effort. I won't betray Lucifer," the demon snarled, twisting Clary's usually sweet face into a mask of hatred. Out of the corner of his eye, Alec saw Izzy clench her jaw, and he wished there was a way that he could comfort her without the demon seeing it as a weakness to exploit. 

"Oh, _please_. I know some of you guys think of him as your big daddy, but Lucifer is an angel - an angel who was kicked out of Heaven because he dared to tell God he thought humans were beneath him. He corrupted humans into demons to piss God off. If he thinks humans are just filthy bags of pus, what do you think he thinks of demons? He's just using you as cannon fodder," Magnus said, sounding bored. 

"You know nothing about Lucifer, you're not fit to even say his name," the demon spat out.

" _Au_ _contraire_ , I was Lucifer's right hand man until very recently. Do you know who I am?" Magnus asked.

"Why should I know who you are, meatsack?" it sneered. 

"I'm Magnus Bane, Asmodeus' son, and former Prince of Hell. I certainly hope you know who I am, I didn't get a reputation for being the worst of the Princes for nothing." 

The demon wearing Clary's face did a double-take and looked more closely at Magnus with Clary's blind eyes, then immediately looked fearful. "No... no, you can't be. Anyway, you're human now." 

"You know what they say... the descent into Hell is easy," Magnus said with a mirthless smile. "I was my father's favourite child, his best student. He always said I had a talent for knowing exactly what it would take to make a soul break." Magnus held a hand out towards Alec, his eyes still on the demon. "Give me the demon-killing knife, darling."

Alec hesitated. Magnus was a good man. He wasn't a demon anymore. He took the knife from his belt and handed it over. 

Magnus examined the blade. "They stabbed me in the heart with this when I was still a demon, you know?" he told the demon conversationally. "The pain of it was exquisite. Hellfire has nothing on it."

"Magnus!" Simon hissed agitatedly, and Jace put a hand on his shoulder. 

"If you don't have the stomach for it, you'd better get out of this room," Magnus said flippantly, making a shooing motion with his free hand. 

"Izzy, you won't let them do this to me, right?" the demon pleaded, turning towards her. 

Izzy glanced at Alec. He knew she was only holding herself back because she trusted him, trusted his judgement of Magnus. She closed her eyes and turned her face aside, refusing to look at the demon. 

Magnus stalked towards the demon, the blade in his hand flashing wickedly. "They're not going to stop me. Lucifer has their baby brother. He's more important to them than this girl."

"This wouldn't have happened to her if you hadn't come into her life, you know," the demon told Izzy coldly, and Izzy flinched.

"Shut up, that's not true - stop trying to distract us," Alec snapped. "Either you tell us where Lucifer is right now, or we'll make you talk."

"I'm not afraid to die for Lucifer," the demon said, although it didn't sound very convincing.

"You and I both know that there are far, far worse things than death," Magnus said, getting a firmer grip on the knife, and Alec had the uneasy feeling that something had shifted in Magnus.

The demon suddenly smiled disarmingly. "Then I guess it's time for me to hand over the wheel for a bit," it said, shut its eyes, and relaxed. 

Clary's eyes flew open and she gasped. She turned her head around the room, eyes wide and blank. "Oh my god, why am I tied up? Please, _please_ don't hurt me again, don't hurt Max again, he's just a kid-" 

Alec exchanged a quick look with Izzy, feeling hopeful. It sounded like Clary might have been awake inside there for some of the things that had happened, or at least not possessed all the time.  

"Clary!" Simon exclaimed, and she stopped struggling immediately, tilting her head towards the sound of his voice. 

"Simon? Did they get you too?" she asked anxiously. 

"Clary, where are you right now?" Magnus asked urgently. 

"Um, Detroit-" she began, then her face contorted as the demon surfaced and regained control. "You tricked me!" it screeched.

"Cry me a river," Magnus replied, rolling his eyes, as Ragnor began to recite the incantation for exorcism.

"Even if you know where he is, it's too late! Lucifer has his true vessel now, he-"

"Oh, shut up and just go back to Hell," Magnus bit out. 

The demon shot Magnus one last poisonous glare before Clary's head was thrown back by the force of the demon being expelled from her body, a noxious black cloud of smoke that swirled above her before vanishing in a flash of hellfire, leaving behind a strong smell of rotten eggs. Clary slumped in the chair like a puppet whose strings had been cut, and Izzy immediately rushed forward. Simon pushed Jace aside to get to Clary, and between him and Izzy they started to untie her from the chair.

"I'm going to go put fresh sheets on my bed. Clary can have my room until she's better," Magnus said, handing Alec back his knife, and Alec couldn't help noticing that there was a faint tremor in Magnus' hand. 

 

 

Izzy reported the extent of Clary's injuries with barely restrained fury after doing a full check-up for her. It seemed like Clary hadn't had anything to eat in days, her blood sugar dangerously low. All the fingers in her right hand had been broken in multiple places. She hadn't regained consciousness, but they could guess what had happened - this was how Lucifer had gotten Max to say 'yes'.

"Simon is sitting with her now in case she wakes up, but I think she needs a hospital," Izzy said. "She needs care that we can't provide for her right now, and I can't tell if there's been more damage done internally."

"You know, it'd be really great if Raphael would show up. Maybe he didn't want to be around when we did the spell with Michael's grace, but you'd have thought that he'd be back by now," Jace grumbled. "He could heal Clary with a snap of his fingers."

"I'd imagine that Heaven is in a bit of a mess now that all the angels have suddenly been given free will. I think we will have to assume that we must make do on our own," Ragnor said. 

"Including killing the Devil? Because firstly, I don't know how we're even going to start with that, and secondly, he's now in Max's body. We have the Lance of Michael, but we're not stabbing our baby brother," Jace pointed out. "Hey do you think he's still got his old vessel Jonathan stashed somewhere? If we could shove him back in there... I mean, Jonathan was an asshole. No great loss."

Magnus shook his head. "Jonathan was already burning out when I was last with Lucifer. It was taking him a lot of power to maintain the vessel and prevent it from exploding. Why would he give up his true vessel for that heap of trash?" 

"But we can't just leave it like this. Even if we've thrown the rulebook out of the window, Lucifer could still _choose_ to go ahead with starting the Apocalypse," Alec said.

"And let's be real, he totally would," Jace agreed. 

"Raphael's input would be valuable right now. He would know if there's a way to forcibly eject an angel from its host," Ragnor said with a sigh. 

"And then what, shove him into some poor schmuck so we can skewer him with a magical stick? Who's going to volunteer to host the Devil just so he can die?" Jace asked, then frowned and looked at Alec. " _Don't you dare_."

Alec felt Magnus stiffen beside him. 

"And don't _you_ dare either," Ragnor told Magnus sternly.

"Why are you behaving like the two of us would do something like that if there were any other choice?" Magnus replied huffily.

_Did_ they have any other choice? Alec put his hand over Magnus' and squeezed it tightly, and Magnus squeezed back. This was a conversation they needed to have, but perhaps somewhere away from the rest of the group.

"Well, I'm going to switch with Simon so he can take a break. Don't anybody do anything stupid while I'm gone," Izzy said with a pointed look at Alec and Magnus before she walked away.

 

_**-NOW-**_

 

Alec was shivering by the time they were in sight of the rectory, having been in too much of a hurry to grab his jacket when they'd searched the whole place and hadn't been able to find Izzy. Magnus hugged him a little closer, but even his warmth wasn't enough to drive out the chill in Alec's bones. When they drew nearer, however, Alec was surprised to hear many agitated voices raised in argument. Magnus quickened his pace as well, and they walked in to find Raphael going head-to-head with Jace - and Max lying on the couch. 

"What the hell is going on in here?" Alec demanded. 

"This asshole won't heal Max!" Jace fumed. 

"And if you would stop shouting at me long enough to let me explain, then you would have known that I _can't_ ," Raphael replied angrily. 

"What do you mean _can't_ , you're a fucking angel!" Jace snapped.

"Hey, cut it out, this isn't helping," Magnus said, getting between them. "In the first place, is that really Max?" 

"Yes. We tried the angel-banishing sigil immediately after we found him on the doorstep, unconscious. When we couldn't seem to revive him, Simon called on Raphael again, and thankfully he was able to come," Ragnor explained. 

There was only one conceivable reason why Max had been returned to them, and it made Alec sick with anger and grief to think of it. "Alright, so what's wrong with him? Why can't you heal him?" Alec asked, trying to keep calm. He had to say that the archangel was looking distinctly worse for wear, and wondered if the spell they had cast had somehow weakened all the angels. 

"Remember I told you that being an archangel's vessel has its price?" Raphael replied. 

Alec took some time to digest this information "So you're saying that he's brain dead? That Izzy made that exchange for nothing?"

"I do not know. There's demon blood in his veins - they must have forced him to drink some before Lucifer took over, and ironically it may have offered him some protection. We will have to see if he wakes up," Raphael said. "But we have a much bigger problem now. It was foolish of you to let Isabelle Lightwood go to Lucifer."

"Hate to break it to you, but nobody 'lets' Izzy do anything," Jace scoffed.

"You don't understand the consequences," Raphael snarled. "Max Lightwood was Lucifer's true vessel, but now that Lucifer has Isabelle, he also has full knowledge of everything that has happened since he stole Max from you - which means that he knows that Alec is Michael, and that Michael's grace is gone."

"Oh _fuck_ ," Simon breathed. 

"I have spent the last few days trying to calm the chaos and panic your spell has brought about among the angels - futilely, I might add. Lucifer will waste no time taking advantage of their confusion, and he is charismatic, a born leader the way Michael was and I am not. He must be stopped immediately, before he turns all of the Heavenly Host against humanity," Raphael said.

"Is there a way to eject an angel from its vessel?" Ragnor asked. 

"Yes, but you can't kill him in his true form - even Michael only managed to weaken him enough to put him in the Cage. In a physical form, at least we stand a chance, either with the Lance or with an archangel's blade," Raphael replied.

Alec clenched his jaw, already knowing where this was going, but Jace snarled, "Then Izzy will die too!" 

Raphael sighed. "Let me see to this friend of yours first, but when I am done we must come to a decision, Alec. Either you must do it, or I will." 

Simon offered to bring Raphael to Clary, and when they were gone, Jace immediately said, "Alec, we can't do that to Izzy. There must be another way. She's probably counting on us to get her out of this-"

He was interrupted by Simon running into the room. "Guys... I found this under Clary's pillow," Simon said, holding out a folded piece of paper to Alec.

His and Jace's names were written on it in Izzy's impatient scrawl. Alec scanned through the short letter quickly, with Jace reading over his shoulder. When he was done, he closed his eyes and let Jace take the letter so he could finish reading it too. 

"What? What does it say?" Simon asked.

Jace folded the letter and swallowed hard, struggling to find the words. "Izzy said... she said that she loves all of us, and she'll try to hold him off if she can, but we have to promise to make her sacrifice count," he said quietly.

The last words from Izzy's letter were branded into Alec's mind.

_If you love me..._ _Please. Don't let me be the reason the world burns._

 

 


	31. Born To Raise Hell

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _Don't you be scared, don't you be scared_   
>  _Everybody terrified, it don't seem fair_   
>  _What are you waiting for?_   
>  _What do you think you were created for?_
> 
> [_"Born To Raise Hell", Motörhead_ ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NbOCF9zYgHc)

 

 

Alec checked the bags they'd packed one last time. Raphael would be zapping them there directly, so they were travelling light, taking only the things that they would need: rosaries for blessing the water supply if they managed to get their hands on it, salt, and clay jars of holy oil courtesy of Raphael. Each of them were armed with angel blades retrieved from the angels that had attacked them at the rectory, Alec had Michael's lance strapped to his back and the demon-killing knife in his belt, and Raphael had the fragment from the Ark of the Convenant tucked away in his pocket. They had decided that there was no point all of them going, not when they had a snowball's chance in hell of beating the Devil, so only four of them would be making the trip to Detroit: Alec, Jace, Magnus, and Raphael.

"I know Clary said that it was fucking freezing where they were at, but Detroit's pretty big. We're going to zap around town looking for a cold spot?" Jace asked.

"No, Ragnor thinks he's found it. There was an article in the local news about a cold snap in a particular spot in downtown Detroit. That gives us a five-block radius to work with," Alec said.  

"Alright then. Let's do this," Jace said. "Hey guys, what's with the powwow?" 

"We're done," Magnus said lightly, stepping away from his conversation with Raphael and walking over to Ragnor to give him a one-armed hug.

"Don't worry about Max. We'll take care of him, and hopefully he'll wake up soon," Ragnor told Alec and Jace. Alec nodded - they'd already said goodbye to him, and Clary was sitting with him now, in case he woke up. 

"Yeah, I'm sure he'll be awake by the time we're back," Jace said bracingly.

"I'm afraid that's not likely. Even with Michael's lance and the Ark of the Convenant, our chances of killing the Devil, much less have all of us survive the encounter, are next to zero," Raphael said, his brows furrowed.

"Thanks for the pep talk. Really inspirational," Jace said sarcastically as he walked over to Simon, then said in a joking tone, "One kiss for the road? This might be your last chance to kiss me, Lewis." 

Simon quirked a small smile at Jace, and for a moment Alec was sure Simon was going to reply with a wisecrack or an insult - but Simon leaned forward and kissed Jace soundly on the lips. Jace was so surprised, he didn't know where to put his hands, one hand still hovering at Simon's waist when Simon pulled back and adjusted his glasses.

Simon cleared his throat. "I'm not very good at motivational speeches either. So, like, don't die."

"Ok. Sure." Jace nodded dazedly.

Normally Alec would have just rolled his eyes, but this time he understood the feeling only too well. Instead, he clapped Simon on the shoulder and gently steered his brother towards where Raphael was waiting for them with his hands outstretched. 

 

 

Alec felt like he'd blinked when he clearly hadn't - but at any rate they were certainly not in Illinois anymore. It was midday, but the light was muddy, washing the colour out of everything, and Alec pulled his jacket shut at the sudden chill. Raphael was already looking around them, and his gaze settled on one of the buildings just visible from the back alley they were in. 

"There," Raphael said. "I can feel him." 

"So can he feel you too?" Alec asked.

"If he's looking out for me, yes," Raphael replied. 

"Shit. Then let's get this party on the road," Jace said. 

They started putting the holy oil all around in a loose circle around the building - as close as they could get to it without the guard demons noticing them, and as quickly as they could before Lucifer noticed them. Once they were done, they stepped within the confines of the circle.

"Last chance to back out," Magnus told Raphael. Raphael nodded solemnly, and Magnus dropped a light on the oil; it caught in an instant, and within seconds the building was surrounded by a ring of holy fire. No one was leaving now, not even Lucifer. Demons started rushing out of the building, eyes black and faces twisted into snarls.

"Hey guys. Boy, am I happy to see you," Jace said with his teeth bared in a parody of a grin, whipping out his borrowed angel blade. 

The two nearest demons rushed towards him, only to gasp, flickering with hellfire as the tips of two angel blades pierced through their chests. They fell to the floor to reveal Magnus behind them with an angel blade in each hand. 

"Thanks for being the distraction, but try to keep up," Magnus said smugly, already moving on to the next couple of demons. 

"The distraction?! I- just- _Wow_ ," Jace sputtered in indignation, before joining the fray. 

Between the four them, they cut through a few dozen demons easily, making their way to the room on the topmost floor to find Izzy standing by the window, looking out at the circle of holy fire. She turned around and flashed a wicked grin at them, and Alec's blood ran cold to see that expression on his sister's face. 

"Well, this is nice. A regular little family reunion - Michael, Raphael, random unknown angel sibling, and my favourite nephew," Lucifer said. He grimaced and addressed Alec in a stage whisper, "You do realise that technically you're fucking your own nephew, right?"

"I'm not Michael, not anymore," Alec said firmly, drawing the lance from behind his back. From the corner of his eye, he saw Magnus edge closer to a wall. 

"Oh, I heard from the lovely Isabelle," Lucifer smiled, tapping the side of his head. "How the mighty have fallen."

There were more demons coming up behind them, their footsteps loud on the stairs, but Lucifer slammed the door of the room with a wave of his hand. 

"This is family business. Let's keep the grunts out of this, hmm?" Lucifer said. "Raph, you should leave these hairless monkeys. I mean, of the four of us you were always the runt, but Michael has gone and degraded himself, and Gabriel doesn't want to be found. It's just you and me now. We've got to look out for each other, help each other."

"I'm not going to help you destroy the world, Lucifer," Raphael replied.

"No, _no_! You've got it all wrong! Why would I want to destroy the world? All the trees, and the birds, and the bees? It's the last perfect handiwork of our father," Lucifer protested. "It's the humans that are the problem. They were given Eden, and they got themselves kicked out. They were given this planet, and they besmirched it. Flawed, questioning... and they put all the blame on _me_." 

"You're not fooling anybody," Magnus said, rolling his eyes. "You kept me by your side for weeks, and you really like to hear yourself talk. This is all just one big temper tantrum because you thought Daddy didn't love you best."

Lucifer turned on Magnus with a vicious smile. "You should have stayed out of this, nephew. My brother went to all that trouble to make you human again... and now he's going to have to watch you die."

"Bring it," Magnus said, glancing over at Raphael.

Raphael nodded, and disappeared a split second before Magnus slammed his palm down on the wall. Alec caught the look of surprise on Izzy's face just before she was engulfed in bright white light, and was blasted away.

"What the fuck? What the hell did you do that for?" Jace exclaimed.

"He can't leave the building, not with the circle of holy fire all around. And banishing weakens them, according to Raphael," Magnus explained. "It's too bad about Raphael, but I told him to get closer to the barrier, as far from me as possible, and hopefully he'll be affected less by the sigil." 

"Lucifer's also going to come back a lot angrier," Alec pointed out, but moved closer to the walls so that he could help draw more of the sigils.

He'd barely gotten one done when Raphael and Lucifer reappeared in the room, locked in a tussle, both of them wielding twisted blades of burnished gold. Even though he had the disadvantage of being in Izzy's smaller form, it was clear that Lucifer was a far better fighter than Raphael.

"Raphael!" Magnus warned the other angel before he activated another sigil, blasting Lucifer away in an instant. 

After a few minutes, Raphael reappeared without Lucifer, looking distinctly winded. "I think it's working," he said. "It should be affecting Lucifer the same way. If we keep this up, perhaps Isabelle will be able to-" He cut off with a choking sound, the tip of a golden blade protruding from his chest.

"Oh fuck, Raphael," Jace gasped in shock.

"Gotta wake up earlier to get one up over the Devil," Lucifer sneered, and twisted the blade. A bright light began to pour out of Raphael's eyes and mouth. "I'm sorry that I had to do this, little brother, but you shouldn't have picked the losing side," Lucifer said regretfully, and pulled his blade out of Raphael's back. 

Alec, Magnus, and Jace were thrown to the floor by an explosion of light. An acrid stench of burnt feathers filled the freezing air, and Raphael fell to the floor with a dull thud, the marks of his wings burnt into the floor. Alec stared at the dead archangel in stunned silence, then tightened his grip on the lance. 

With a flick of his fingers, Lucifer erased all the half-finished sigils on the walls. He glanced at the weapon in Alec's hand and shook his head, smiling to himself. "Did you really think you can kill me? I could end all of you with a snap of my fingers - but I'm not going to do that, because I want to take my time with you. I want Izzy to feel all your bones breaking under her fingertips. I want her to see the exact moment that the light leaves your eyes."

Lucifer walked towards Alec, Izzy's heels clicking on the floorboards. Magnus came up behind him with his double angel blades, but Lucifer sent him flying into a wall without even looking backwards. There was a sickening crack when he hit the wall, and Magnus didn't get back up. Alec scrambled to his feet and thrust the lance forward, but Lucifer stepped out of the way easily. 

"You've got to put a bit more _heart_ into it, big brother," Lucifer laughed, mimicking Izzy's tone of voice. "You know, Michael made that weapon, not just to kill me, but to make sure it would kill me slowly and painfully. And if you stab me with that, you can bet that your dear sister's soul is going down into the depths of Hell with me."

"What?" Alec asked, aghast.

Lucifer took advantage of his distraction to wrench the weapon out of his grasp with unnatural strength, and spun it around to slam the handle ruthlessly into Alec's abdomen. Alec coughed and doubled over, and straightened up to find the tip of it almost touching his throat. Lucifer smiled cruelly at Alec. "Well, well. Look at you - always the favourite child, now brought low. Wouldn't it be ironic if Michael was impaled on his own sword, so to speak?"

"Hey, dickbag," Jace called from behind Lucifer. 

Lucifer turned, and in doing so moved aside just enough for Alec to see that Jace was crouched over Raphael's corpse, and in his hands was a small parcel wrapped in fine silk. Jace let the wrapping fall away and held the chunk of ancient wood in his bare hands, and it immediately started to glow.

"No, Jace," Alec whispered in despair as he watched his brother absorb the power from the Ark, knowing that the force of it was going to obliterate Jace even as he channelled it to destroy Lucifer.

There was a sharp gasp from Lucifer. "Stop. Jace, please, stop," he said, and he let the lance fall from his hand with a clatter.

Alec looked at Lucifer in surprise. That... that didn't sound like Lucifer. It sounded like _Izzy_. 

"Izzy?" Jace asked, and she nodded tightly. The glow from the Ark had already travelled halfway up his arms, but when he let go of it, the light faded and Jace fell to the floor, gasping for air like he'd just finished running a marathon.

Izzy turned towards Alec, and her smile was gentle even though her whole body was trembling with tension and her fists were clenched. "Alec, I can't hold him off much longer."

Alec's gaze flickered to the lance on the ground.

"It's ok. Do it." 

Alec shook his head. "Izzy, I... I can't." 

"Please," she pleaded softly. She gritted her teeth as if in sudden pain, and for a moment her eyes flashed red. " _Alec!_ " 

Alec dived for the lance and drove it forward, straight into Izzy's chest. 

Izzy cried out and fell to her knees, hands already slick with blood from where they were wrapped around the shaft of the weapon protruding from her chest. She jerked it out of her body, and more blood gushed out, spilling onto the floor. There were black lines of corruption spreading outwards from where the blade had pierced her body, cracks forming on her skin as if she was a slowly-shattering porcelain doll. 

"It hurts," she gasped, her breath coming out in harsh pants as she clutched her chest, and even though Alec didn't know if it was Lucifer or still Izzy, it tore him up to see her in so much pain. 

"Izzy... I-" 

"Make it stop," she choked out through a mouthful of blood. "Oh, God, please-" 

Alec saw Magnus stirring from where Lucifer had thrown him, wincing as he tried to get up. "Alexander - Raphael's sword." 

Alec got to his feet as quickly as he could and picked up the twisted golden blade. "I'm here, Iz. I've got you," Alec said in the clearest, strongest voice he could manage. He wrapped one arm around her, holding her close one last time, and shut his eyes as he plunged the archangel's blade into her heart.

The light burned into his retinas through his eyelids. He was in the eye of a storm of fire; Izzy jerked violently in his arms with a shock wave that jarred his bones as he held on to her, and he felt her go limp even as the smell of burning feathers filled his nose once again. Alec couldn't breathe, but it wasn't just because of the taste of ash on his tongue; he felt like someone had his heart in a vice-like grip, squeezing it so hard that it would surely explode and kill him with the agony of it. He buried his face in her neck to hide the ugly sound of his heaving sobs as the light faded, dimly aware that he was rocking back and forth, as if she was still the tiny baby he'd remembered cradling in his arms under the watchful eyes of his parents when he'd been no more than a toddler, as if he were lulling her to sleep. 

In a few minutes, Jace was there too, wrapping his arms around the both of them, clearly having dragged himself across the floor on his hands and knees to get to them. "You did it, Iz. You beat the Devil. You saved the world," Jace whispered into her hair, his voice cracking towards the end, and Alec could feel Jace's tears falling on his arm.   

There were a million things Alec should have said to her, but he couldn't speak through the pain in his chest; he could only hold Izzy's lifeless body tighter, his eyes still squeezed shut. 

 

 

They buried her in her favourite dress, a dark red one that she'd lamented not being able to wear nearly often enough because of the way hunting tended to ruin clothes.

Ragnor had gently reminded them that hunters were traditionally given a funeral pyre, but Alec was having none of it - what was Izzy supposed to come back to if there was nothing left of her body but ash? Ragnor had clearly been uncomfortable with the idea of burying her, so instead of a place in the little churchyard next to the rectory, out of respect for Ragnor's wishes they'd gotten Izzy a burial plot in the next nearest town.

Max still hadn't woken up, but they'd gotten him to a hospital to get checked out, and the doctors said everything seemed normal - except that he wasn't waking up. There was nothing they could do but wait, so in the meantime Alec read. As far as he could tell from the lore, an angel was his best bet for getting Izzy's soul out of Hell. But since Raphael was dead and from what he'd told them Heaven was in complete chaos after they'd done the spell to give free will to everything in creation, Alec began to branch out in his research. 

But it wasn't until he'd started getting at Ragnor's books on necromancy that anybody spoke up about what he was doing. Alec woke up after another restless night of too little sleep and too much reading about disturbing spells to find all of them sitting in the living room waiting for him when he shuffled in with his mug of coffee. Alec frowned, and immediately noticed that the books and notes he'd left out on Ragnor's desk were gone. 

"Where are my things?" Alec asked, trying and failing to keep his voice even.  

"Alec, she's dead," Ragnor said gently but firmly. 

"So? We know angels and demons walk amongst us, there's magic out there beyond what we could even imagine. I've brought Izzy back twice now, what's one more time?" Alec said coldly.  

"Yes, and at what price?" Ragnor snapped. "It was bad enough when you sold your soul to Magnus and offered to be Michael's vessel. Now that all of Heaven and Hell know who you really are - not just any angel, but God's most favoured, and powerless without your grace - what do you think is going to happen? How many enemies do you think Michael has made, and how many of them will take advantage of your desperation?"

"Izzy wouldn't want you to do that, Alec. She'd have told you to let her go," Clary said quietly. "She saved the world. Maybe she's at peace in Heaven - did you ever think of that? How can you want to take that from her?"

"That's not what Lucifer said. Lucifer said the lance was cursed, that it was going to drag Izzy down to Hell with him," Alec bit out.

"He's the Devil, Alec. He was probably lying so that you wouldn't use Michael's lance on him," Ragnor pointed out. 

"Yeah, man. And maybe you felt you had nothing to lose back then, and kinda all alone, but now you've got us. I know this is a really dirty card to play, but you've got Magnus now," Simon pointed out.

_Magnus_. That did give him pause. He'd been kind of closed off since Izzy's death, but Magnus had given him his space and hadn't pushed. One of Magnus' arms was in a sling, having busted his collarbone when Lucifer had thrown him into the wall, but he reached out to take Alec's hand with his good hand, and Alec looked up to find nothing but understanding in his eyes. 

"I know how much she meant to you," Magnus said. "If you're sure that that's what you want to do, then we will do it together." 

"I'm in, too," Jace said quietly.

"Heaven help us," Ragnor muttered, throwing his hands up in exasperation.

There was a knock on the door. Simon was closest, and usually was the only one with any patience for door-to-door salesmen and the like, so he got up to answer.

After a few minutes, Simon said in a shaky voice, "Uh... guys? You might want to come see this."

Alec was first at the door, followed closely by Jace and Magnus, then Ragnor guiding Clary. The door was wide open, and Izzy was standing on the doormat with the hidden devil's trap under it. She was wearing the clothes they'd buried her in, but without a single speck of dirt on her, and she was whole and alive. She looked round at all of them with teary eyes and a big smile, but in the end her gaze settled on Alec.

"Hello, big brother."

 

 


	32. Carry On Wayward Son

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _Carry on my wayward son_   
>  _There'll be peace when you are done..._
> 
> [_"Carry On Wayward Son", Kansas_ ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2X_2IdybTV0)

 

  

Alec woke up slowly. He was lying on his side, and even with the dingy motel curtains drawn he could tell that it was still dark outside, and with their luck, probably still snowing. He could feel the warmth radiating from Magnus behind him, but after weeks of sharing a bed with him, he knew Magnus was already awake.

"Hey. You alright?" he asked, turning around halfway. 

"Of course. Why wouldn't I be?" Magnus replied softly, leaning in to kiss Alec. "Good morning." 

Alec kissed Magnus back and elected to let it go. Magnus would sometimes get all quiet like this, lost in thought. Some nights, Magnus would jerk awake with a hoarse shout, breathing too hard afterwards to even attempt to form an apology for waking Alec up - not that Alec expected one, since he'd woken Magnus up with his fair share of nightmares too.

Alec arched his back, stretching out sore muscles from trying to dig through the frozen ground of the grave the night before, then turned around more fully so he could put an arm around Magnus' waist, pulling him a little closer. It was nice being like this. There were just too many people in the rectory for much privacy, even though Alec had to admit that it was also a little strange to be separated from his siblings after almost two years of practically living in each other's pockets. It was a thing that he would have to get used to though, even if the thought of it still made him a little anxious. Izzy, Clary, Jace, and Simon would all be moving to New York in January so Izzy could resume her pre-med studies with the spring intake, and Simon could continue his business degree. Clary and Jace hadn't quite figured what they were going to do, but Alec was reasonably reassured that they would be fine in Magnus' heavily-warded apartment building. Probably.

"Morning," Alec replied, kissing Magnus back more firmly to distract him from dark thoughts. He slotted their groins together, rutting his hardening cock against Magnus'. Magnus made an appreciative noise and ran his hands under Alec's shirt, over warm bare skin, then into Alec's loose sleep pants to squeeze his ass lightly. 

Alec was eventually forced to leave the cocoon of the bedclothes to rummage through their bags for the lube, before diving back under the bedclothes with such speed that it made Magnus laugh.  

"It's _really_ cold," Alec grumbled.

Magnus grinned and got Alec under him, covering him with his body, then pulled the blankets over their head, enveloping them both in complete, musty darkness. "Is that better?" he teased. 

"Magnus, I can't fucking see anything-"

Between laughter and kisses, they managed to get their clothes off while still huddled under the covers, flinging them somewhere over the side of the bed. Magnus got Alec to lie on his front and pressed kisses into his shoulders while he stretched him open slowly with slick fingers, until Alec was alternating between desperately trying to fuck himself back on Magnus' fingers and rutting against the sheets.

"Magnus... Please, c'mon," Alec groaned, dropping his head as Magnus kept up his teasing pressure on Alec's prostate.  

Magnus kissed him deeply, sucking gently on his lower lip, before sliding his fingers out and getting on top of Alec. Alec could feel the blunt head of Magnus' cock nudging at his rim, then a slight twinge of pain when the wide head squeezed through the tight ring of muscle. Magnus' chest was flush against Alec's back, a comfortable warm weight on Alec as he pushed slowly into Alec until he bottomed out. Alec sucked in a breath, trying to relax around the stretch, and let out a low moan when Magnus rolled his hips into him. 

"Fuck, Alexander, you feel amazing," Magnus murmured, punctuating his words with another languid thrust that sent a frisson of pleasure through Alec. 

Another unhurried thrust, then another, Magnus' cock stretching him open over and over, until Alec's nerve-endings were crackling like a live wire and he was shuddering helplessly with the slow burn of it.

"Please... Magnus, more," he panted, fingers tangling in the sheets. 

Magnus planted his knees on either side of Alec's hips for more leverage as he picked up the pace, and hands pinning Alec's wrists down on the mattress. Alec tilted his ass up, chasing the nearly-there sensation of Magnus' cock brushing against his prostate, and let out a loud groan when he finally got the angle right. 

"God, Magnus - harder, _harder_ ," Alec gasped, heat pooling in his gut. 

Magnus murmured his name reverently into the skin between his shoulder blades and began to fuck Alec into the mattress with quick, powerful thrusts. Alec's cock was trapped between his own body and the bed, not giving him enough friction, but still he could feel his impending climax like an ache deep inside him. 

"I'm close," Magnus panted, hips stuttering. "Fuck, Alexander, I love you, I love you so much."

"I love you too - _ah!_ Magnus, Magn-!" The rest of Alec's babbling was lost in wordless cries as Magnus fucked into him deeper and harder, the ache inside him pulling tighter and tighter until Magnus thrust in one more time and came inside him with a shout. 

Alec could feel Magnus' release spilling out of him as Magnus continued to fuck into him, but it was Magnus' hushed whisper of " _Oh, Alexander_ " against the skin of his nape, so tender and in awe, that finally sent him over the edge. 

Alec lost a few minutes in a blissful, boneless haze, only stirring when Magnus rolled off him.

"Are you ok?" Magnus asked, voice rough. 

Alec nodded and wrapped his arms around Magnus. "Give me ten more minutes, and we can get going," he mumbled.

Magnus hummed contentedly and snuggled closer. "I'm sure we have time. I doubt the Park will be terribly crowded in this weather."

  

 

It was nearer to lunchtime when they finally arrived at the Sequoia National Park, but Magnus was right - nobody really wanted to go trekking up the mountain in this weather. Alec peeked into the visitors' centre before they made their way up the trail, but the elderly staff was nowhere to be seen, so Alec quietly sneaked in and left the coat he'd borrowed all those months ago folded neatly on the counter.

Even with the snow, it took them less than 20 minutes to get to the giant sequoia that had once housed Michael's grace, and they didn't meet anybody on the way. The fence around it had been repaired, but they vaulted over it easily. Alec placed a hand on the trunk of the tree, feeling the rough spot where he had gouged the bark to extract the grace, honestly quite relieved that the tree had survived after all. They wouldn't have returned here if they didn't happen to have had a job to do not too far away, but Alec was kind of glad they had - it felt like a proper goodbye, even though there were still so many questions they didn't have answers to.

"Does Izzy remember anything more? About how she came back?" Magnus asked, seeming to follow the same train of thought.  

"No. Still the same. Just... you know. Dying," Alec said, scuffling the dead grass with the toe of his boot. "Then waking up to find herself sitting at a tombstone with her name on it."

"And what about in between dying and waking up?" Magnus asked quietly. 

"I think she remembers, but she just doesn't want to talk about it," Alec admitted. "She didn't come back messed up, or anything like that though. Still same old Izzy. Mostly."

"Then perhaps we shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth, and just accept that we got very lucky for once," Magnus said musingly. "Maybe miracles do happen, and someone is watching over us. Well, watching over you, at least."

"You don't mean like... God?" Alec asked, making a face.

"You were, after all, his first child, and according to Lucifer, his favourite child. Maybe he brought Izzy back for you."

Alec shook his head. "I don't know what to think. But it isn't fair, is it? Maybe it's asking too much, but why is Max still in a coma? Raphael's dead, Clary's still blind, Simon's family is still dead. All the people whose lives were ruined by monsters, angels, and demons - why don't they get a happy ending?"

"If you think God doesn't care anymore, then who or what was it? It'd take something really powerful to not just get Izzy's soul out of Hell, but to put her back in her body and fix everything, as if the curse on the lance had never touched her. If we keep on poking around, I'm not sure we'll like what we'll find," Magnus said.

Alec shrugged. "Maybe. But I think I'll always feel it hanging over me, if I don't try to find out."

"Alexander..." Magnus turned away, looking out at the trees all around them and twisting one of his rings absent-mindedly. "Your siblings are going to try their hand at living a normal life. I don't want you to feel like you have to be a hunter as well just because that's the only thing I know how to do."

"Izzy is going to study medicine so she can improve all those serums she was developing with Valentine, and find out if there's a way to mix medicine and magic to wake Max up. And last I heard, Jace was talking about setting up a food truck with everything laced with holy water to take out unsuspecting demons. I wouldn't exactly call that 'normal'," Alec said wryly. 

"You know what I mean. You never wanted to be a hunter. Now that the apocalypse has been adverted and Lucifer is dead, you could put it all behind you. You could go back to college, have that normal, apple-pie life you always wanted." Magnus said. "Just... come back to me whenever. And I'll be fine with Ragnor in the meantime."

Alec reached out to grab Magnus' hands and stop him from fidgeting, waiting until Magnus finally looked up to meet his eyes before telling him, "Normal is overrated. There will always be things that need hunting, and people who need saving. And I can't think of anywhere I'd rather be, than doing all of it with you."

A small smile brightened Magnus' face, and Alec answered it with a grin of his own. 

Magnus took Alec's hands more firmly in his own and tugged him away from the tree, towards the trail that would lead them back to the world outside the peaceful, frozen groves of gigantic trees. 

"Come on, then," Magnus said. "We've got work to do."

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The End.
> 
> ...for now? I might come back to this, but for now this is where the story ends. Thank you, dear readers, for taking the time to read this story. I hope you've enjoyed it (and I promise I will try to get better at replying to comments ^^;)
> 
> Come find me at @tethysea on Twitter or @la-muerta on tumblr if that's your thing! Until next time, XOXO.


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